美国仪表零售商吉他中心的债券信用等级从“稳定”降至“负”。评级机构穆迪（Moody's）进行了评级更改，该评级更改指出，尽管最近零售商的增长适量增长，但吉他中心还是承担了太多的债务。
Moody’s vice president and lead analyst for Guitar Center, Raya Sokolyanska, said of the change: “While Guitar Center has reported modest growth in comparable sales and EBITDA over the past three years, and is a solid operator with a leading position in the niche musical instruments space, leverage remains high and cash flow is limited even after two distressed exchanges.”
Retail specialist website Retail Dive offered the following analysis on the downgrade: “Profits before interest and taxes are growing, if slowly, and Moody’s noted projections of comparable sales growth in the low to mid-single digits, which is better than a lot of the retail world. But still, the firm noted that is not enough to reduce Guitar Center’s debt load over the next 12 to 18 months. Moreover, the company is heavily dependent on its asset-based revolver ‘and will have limited remaining availability in the peak seasonal borrowing period,’ according to Moody’s.”
零售Dive还指出，目前的债务是“十多年来，从杠杆收购中保留了债务。这家零售商首先是由私募股权公司贝恩资本（Bain Capital）收购的，然后在2014年，Ares Management以减少吉他中心的债务而获得了控制权。”
WSJ破产也对这种情况发表了评论，这表明吉他中心鉴于音乐仪器零售业的性质，吉他中心可能会面临另一个债务重组，而难以实现的债务降低/高成本运营的困难。
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