Weiss Ratings is the only ratings agency that combines the broadest coverage, strictest independence, complete objectivity, high ethics, and a commitment to safety.
Weiss Ratings, which began operations in 1971, is the only financial ratings agency in the world that provides a combination of five critical advantages for users: The broadest coverage, the strictest independence, complete objectivity, high ethics and a commitment to safety.
Broadest Coverage. Weiss Ratings issues grades on 53,000 institutions and investments. These include:
- Buy-sell-hold ratings for investors on all U.S. listed stocks, mutual funds and ETFs, updated daily.
- Safety ratings for consumers on virtually all U.S. banks, credit unions and insurance companies, updated quarterly
Strictest Independence. Unlike ratings agencies based on the issuer-pay model, such as Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch, Weiss Ratings has never received — and will never accept — compensation of any kind from issuers or sponsors. Its sole revenue source is from the sale of its ratings and research to consumers, investors, and other end users. Weiss reserves the right to publish ratings based exclusively on publicly available data. It does not suppress publication of a rating at a company’s request. And it accepts no advertising from issuers. This is why Esquire wrote “Weiss is the only [rating agency] with no conflicts of interest.”
Complete objectivity. All ratings are based on objective computer models driven by complex algorithms with large volumes of data, excluding each analyst’s personal opinion from the process. As a result, the rated entities are always treated with complete objectivity and fairness. Weiss Ratings has been noted for its objectivity and accuracy by Members of Congress, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and major news organizations.
High ethics. All Weiss Ratings employees must abide by the Weiss Personal Securities Transactions (PST) policy, designed to avoid even the appearance of unfair advantage in their own investing or trading. Since operations began in 1971, there has been no known instance of unfair advantage or violation of the Weiss PST policy. Nor has there been any allegation of such by a government agency.
A commitment to safety. The ratings models deployed by Weiss pay close attention to safety and risk avoidance. Unlike issuer-pay rating agencies and most Wall Street research firms, which have often given their top ratings to high-risk companies that then crashed or failed, Weiss Ratings has a long track record of downgrading unsafe companies well ahead of time. The New York Times wrote that Weiss was “the first to warn of the dangers and say so unambiguously,” and Barron’s reported that Weiss is the “leader in identifying vulnerable companies.” With respect to the profit performance of Weiss Stock Ratings during a market decline, The Wall Street Journal reported that Weiss ranked #1, ahead of all major rating agencies and research companies covered, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Standard & Poor’s.
Overall, the Weiss ratings empower consumers, investors and other end users to make prudent decisions that avoid financial dangers and seek the best profit opportunities.