Most stocks posted positive returns in 2001 fourth quarter

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

"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.

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.

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.

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.