U.S. corporate bankruptcies have increased in 2020. As of Sunday, the total number of filings for the year was 574—nearly as many as the 579 bankruptcies across all of 2019, and well above the 513 recorded from January 1, 2019, to November 15, 2019. In fact, the year-to-date rate is the highest for any year since 2010.
The increase continued over the past two weeks, but at a slower pace than during preceding periods. These are the key findings from a recent S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis. S&P Global counted all bankruptcy filings among publicly listed companies; private companies that have public debt and at least $2 million in either assets or liabilities at the time of the filing; and private companies without public debt that have at least $10 million in assets or liabilities.
From November 2 to November 15, the United States added 18 more of these companies to the list of bankruptcy filings, including shale gas producer Gulfport Energy; holding company Transformation Tech Investors, which owns security service provider Interface Security Systems; gym chain company You Fit Health Clubs; and cryptocurrency business Cred.
In preceding two-week periods, U.S. bankruptcies numbered 31 and 29, so the most recent period’s 18 is a significant reduction. At the same time, Gulfport Energy, which filed on Friday, represents one of the 40 largest bankruptcies of the year, with more than $1 billion in liabilities. The energy sector has been the third hardest hit, with 65 filings year-to-date—following consumer discretionary (115 filings) and industrials (90 filings).
All in all, the S&P Global report indicates that conditions have improved a bit, but companies are still struggling.