Three Different Types of Weiss Ratings
We provide three types of ratings:
Weiss Investment Ratings
These ratings onstocks, ETFs and mutual funds are in the same realm as “Buy,” “Sell” and “Hold” ratings. They are designed to help safety-seeking investors make more informed decisions. When using our investment ratings, you should always remember that, by definition, all investments involve some element of risk.
See full details of investment ratings and definitions here.
Weiss Crypto Ratings
These ratings on Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 coins and tokens are designed to help investors and users make more informed decisions with the goal of maximizing gains or benefits and minimizing risk. Since most crypto assets are new and experimental, they often tend to be more volatile than other asset classes.
See full details of crypto ratings and definitions here.
Weiss Safety Ratings
These ratings on banks, credit unions and insurance companies are similar in purpose to credit ratings, designed to help consumers find the best institutions to entrust with their savings, retirement funds or insurance premiums. The higher the rating, the more likely the institution will remain financially stable or strong in good times or bad.
See full details of safety ratings and definitions here.
Weiss IPO Scores
Weiss IPO Scores are based on a completely independent, unbiased opinion of pending and recent US IPOs (Initial Public Offerings, or the entry of a company’s shares on a US stock exchange for the first time). Each offering is analyzed using data available through that company’s preliminary filings with the SEC.
It is very challenging to predict a company’s stock performance based on a one-time snapshot of its business data and the terms of its pending offering. But our proprietary model, through which we have painstakingly analyzed the performance of thousands of US IPOs, has identified certain key factors that do make the subsequent success of its shares more or less likely.
We assess those factors for upcoming IPOs through our model, and balance our evaluation of reward against risk to assign an overall ranking. Although all investments involve risk, the results provide a simple and understandable opinion as to whether we think the stock is Investable, Investable with Added Caution, or Not Investable.
In order to help guarantee our objectivity, we reserve the right to publish scores expressing our opinion of an investment’s reward and risk based exclusively on publicly available data and our own proprietary standards for safety.
See full details of IPO Scores and definitions here
Some financial institutions receive both Weiss Investment Ratings and Weiss Safety Ratings.
- As common stocks: The shares of their holding companies, traded on major exchanges, receive a Weiss Investment Rating.
- As financial institutions: Their financial viability, which can affect the security of deposits or insurance policies, receive a Weiss Safety Rating.
With JPMorgan Chase, for example, investors could view information about JPM shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange. At the same time, depositors or potential depositors could view JPMorgan’s bank safety rating.
These are two entirely different destinations for your money. As such, they merit entirely different kinds of ratings:
- When deciding to buy, sell, hold or avoid their shares, refer to the Weiss Investment Rating.
- When shopping for savings or checking accounts, refer to the Weiss Safety Rating.
The same holds true for insurance companies. For their shares, refer to the Weiss Investment Rating. For their insurance policies, refer to the Weiss Safety Rating.
What Does Each Letter Grade Mean?
All three types of Weiss Ratings — Investment Ratings (for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds), Crypto Ratings (for cryptocurrency coins and tokens) and Weiss Safety Ratings (for banks, credit unions and insurers) — use the same grade scale, as follows:
A = excellent
B = good
C = fair
D = weak
E = very weak
Plus sign (+): upper third of each grade
Minus sign (-): lower third of each grade
In addition, in certain industries, we may also use “F” for “Failed” and “U” for “Unrated” due to insufficient data.