What Happens To A Bankrupt Stock After It Gets Delisted?

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

When the novel coronavirus began to spread beyond China in February, it quickly became apparent that the coming economic crisis would claim many companies—large and small—as victims.

Fast forward four months and the number of bankruptcies continues to grow. On Wall Street, the crisis has claimed a number of high profile names across the economic landscape, including legacy retailer JC Penney Company Inc JCPNQ, car rental giant Hertz Global Holdings HTZ, oil driller Whiting Petroleum WLL, and high-speed internet company Frontier Communications Inc FTRCQ.

Some of these bankruptcies were hardly surprises, as the economic freeze brought upon by the pandemic simply put undue stress on businesses in long-term decline. What has caught many by surprise however is the rally that some of these stocks had in early June. Though this “bankruptcy trade” has largely been attributed to inexperienced retail traders and algorithms piggybacking on that volume, it underscores the point that for investors in public companies, bankruptcy does not always mark the end for a company.

What Happens To Shares?

Unlike on most international exchanges where companies going through bankruptcy proceedings will stop trading on the secondary market, a company with shares listed on a U.S. exchange can still trade while in bankruptcy. Shares of these companies will typically be delisted from the exchange and trade on the Pink Market, part of OTC Markets, where a ‘Q’ can be added to the end of the security symbol to indicate the company is in bankruptcy.

According to OTC Markets Group, the Pink market is the ideal market for distressed companies to trade while they go through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

“The Pink Market becomes the default market for companies in bankruptcy and in severe economic distress,” said Jason Paltrowitz, executive vice president, corporate services at OTC Markets. “It provides a place for these companies to maintain a public quotation and work through their restructure plans while also giving investors a market where they can price their exposure and trade their positions”

As of June 12, 47 companies had followed this process in 2020 according to OTC Markets Group, including JC Penney, Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. DOFSQ, and Pier 1 Imports, Inc. PIRRQ. If a widely followed company enters bankruptcy, chances are its shares will still remain relatively liquid while it goes through the process. This has been the case with the companies mentioned above, as well as others like Intelsat SA INTEQ, and McDermott International, Inc. MDRIQ.

It’s also worth noting that not all bankrupt companies are delisted immediately. There can often be a delay between when a company declares bankruptcy and when its stock gets delisted.

Hertz, for example, filed for bankruptcy on May 24 and is still trading on the NYSE pending an appeal by the company after it received a delisting notice from the exchange. In these cases, it’s prudent that any investor understands that the company is in bankruptcy proceedings (and the corresponding risks) even though its stock is still listed on an exchange.

Bankruptcy May Not Be The End Of The Company

Short-term rally in bankrupt or near-bankrupt stocks notwithstanding, bankruptcy proceedings exist for a reason. These businesses are in financial trouble, and any shareholder who has bought into a bankrupt company in recent weeks expecting the stock to keep going up will very likely lose their principle.

That being said, bankruptcy isn’t necessarily the end of the road for a company. In the U.S., companies use the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process to pay creditors and reorganize into a new financial entity.

On some occasions, a company will use the bankruptcy process to restructure and come out even stronger. This has happened with General Motors GM, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009, Six Flags Entertainment Corp SIX, which filed in 2009 and emerged in 2010, and most major airline companies, including United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL, American Airlines Group Inc AAL, and Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL. Shares of GM and American Airlines eventually resumed trading on the New York Stock Exchange after trading on the Pink Market in 2009 and 2011 respectively.

Though these companies were able to restructure and survive, equity shareholders may still get wiped out. This happens because holders of common shares are the last to get paid in the bankruptcy process. In some situations, common stock shareholders will get to participate in a company’s bankruptcy, though this participation is usually accompanied by some kind of dilution if the company issues new shares.

Below is a list of the 47 securities that have de-listed from an exchange in 2020 due to bankruptcy, as of June 4.

Company Old Symbol New Symbol Date
Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. FGP FGPR 1/10/2020
Melinta Therapeutics, Inc. MLNT MLNT 1/13/2020
Jason Industries, Inc. JASN JASN 1/14/2020
CPI Card Group Inc. PMTS PMTS 1/17/2020
McDermott International, Inc. MDR MDRIQ 1/23/2020
Estre Ambiental, Inc. ESTRW ESTWF 2/3/2020
Estre Ambiental, Inc. ESTR ESTRF 2/3/2020
Parker Drilling Co. PKD PKDC 2/10/2020
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. MPVD MPVDF 2/11/2020
McClatchy Co. (THE) MNI MNIQQ 2/14/2020
Pier 1 Imports, Inc. PIR PIRRQ 2/19/2020
YayYo, Inc. YAYO YAYO 2/20/2020
Valeritas Holdings, Inc. VLRX VLRXQ 2/20/2020
Chesapeake Granite Wash Trust CHKR CHKR 3/2/2020
Paringa Resources PNRL PNRLY 3/5/2020
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Inc. LTSF LTSF 3/10/2020
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Inc. LTS.PRA LTSA 3/10/2020
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Inc. LTSL LTSL 3/10/2020
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Inc. LTSK LTSK 3/10/2020
SITO Mobile, Ltd. SITO SITO 3/10/2020
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Inc. LTSH LTSH 3/10/2020
Sophiris Bio, Inc. SPHS SPHS 3/12/2020
Internap Corporation INAP INAPQ 3/26/2020
Blue Capital Reinsurance Holdings Ltd. BCRH BCRHF 3/31/2020
Obsidian Energy Ltd. OBE OBELF 4/2/2020
Micron Solutions, Inc. MICR MICR 4/6/2020
Quorum Health Corporation QHC QHCCQ 4/8/2020
Canntrust Holdings Inc. CTST CNTTQ 4/14/2020
Roadrunner Transportation Systems, Inc. RRTS RRTS 4/17/2020
Yuma Energy, Inc. YUMA YUMAQ 4/17/2020
Frontier Communications Corp. FTR FTRCQ 4/24/2020
Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. DO DOFSQ 4/28/2020
Qualstar Corp. QBAK QBAK 4/30/2020
Reebonz Holding Limited RBZ RBZHF 4/30/2020
Taronis Technologies, Inc. TRNX TRNX 5/4/2020
Stage Stores, Inc. SSI SSINQ 5/12/2020
Emmis Communications Corp. EMMS EMMS 5/14/2020
Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. SES SYNE 5/18/2020
BroadVision, Inc. BVSN BVSNQ 5/19/2020
Penney (J.C.) Co., Inc. (Holding Co.) JCP JCPNQ 5/19/2020
Intelsat SA I INTEQ 5/19/2020
KemPharm, Inc. KMPH KMPH 5/21/2020
Unit Corp. UNT UNTCQ 5/27/2020
Centric Brands Inc. CTRC CTRCQ 5/28/2020
Akorn, Inc. ARKX ARKXQ 6/1/2020
Libbey, Inc. LBY LBYYQ 6/2/2020
Scienjoy Holding Corporation SJOYW SJOYW 6/2/2020

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.

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