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Value Line's Timeliness Ranking System®

The ability of the Value Line Timeliness® Ranking System to discriminate consistently among relative stock values is unique. For more than three decades, Value Line's stock rankings have clearly been borne out by subsequent relative price performance. No other organization can claim so superior a record for such an extended period and for a universe of stocks as broad as the 1,700 that Value Line regularly follows.

The present Value Line Timeliness® Ranking System was introduced in 1965. Every week the Ranking System screens millions of data items using a series of calculations, ranking each of the approximately 1,700 stocks for probable market performance during the next six to 12 months. The Ranking System is the basis for the investment recommendations in The Value Line Investment Survey, and it plays a central role in the management of the Value Line equity mutual funds and private accounts (which include corporate pension plans, endowment accounts, and other mutual funds). The Timeliness® Ranks are also critical to Value Line's proprietary evaluations of options and convertibles.

Timeliness®

Timeliness® —the rank of a stock's probable relative market performance in the year ahead. It is derived by a computer program using as input the long-term price and earnings history, recent price and earnings momentum, and earnings surprise. All data are known and actual. Stocks ranked 1 (Highest) and 2 (Above Average) are likely to outpace the year-ahead market.

Those ranked 4 (Below Average) and 5 (Lowest) are not expected to outperform most stocks over the next 12 months. Stocks ranked 3 (Average) will probably advance or decline with the market in the year ahead. Investors should try to limit purchases to stocks ranked 1 (Highest) and 2 (Above Average) for Timeliness.