Most stocks posted positive returns in 2001 fourth quarter

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According to recent research from Weiss Ratings Inc., 65 percent of common stocks posted positive returns for the fourth quarter of 2001.|ret||ret||tab|

"These numbers reflect the obvious rebound in the market since late Sep-tember (2001)," said Martin D. Weiss, PhD, chairman of Weiss Ratings, in a company press release. "What's not so obvious to many analysts is that many of the stocks providing good returns are high-risk, volatile issues that could turn down just as quickly. Of the 9,000 stocks covered by Weiss, only 15 received the independent ratings provider's top "A" rating. Those 15 stocks were: Atrion Corp., RightChoice Managed Care, Affiliated Computer Services, National Home Health Care, Ryan's Family Steakhouses, Corvel Corp., Frisch's Restaurants Inc., Eastern American Na-tural Gas, United Health Group Inc., Bowl America Inc., Great Northern Iron Ore Property, First Banks American Inc., National Bancshares Cp/Tx, Imperial Oil Ltd. and Petro Canada.|ret||ret||tab|

The 15 top-rated stocks delivered an average return of 17.3 percent for the quarter, outperforming the S & P 500 by seven percentage points without exposing investors to excessive risk. |ret||ret||tab|

At the other end of the scale, 198 stocks received Weiss' lowest possible "E" rating. Those stocks not only under-performed the S & P 500 by eight percentage points, but also exposed in-vestors to excessive risk. Prime examples of "E" rated companies were World Air-ways Inc., Healthcare Integrated Ser-vices and Bethlehem Steel Corp.|ret||ret||tab|

The Weiss stock rating system reviews stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Ex-change and NASDAQ. Two components of each rated stock performance and a risk rating are combined to derive a stock's composite investment rating. [[In-content Ad]]