Business Research Sources -ch 3: Value Line Investment Survey

3. Standard & Poor's

Recommended Supplement: Value Line Investment Survey

One could guess that if a college library has only one investment service, it is most likely to be the Value Line Investment Survey. The service was founded in the 1930s, and has appeared in its present format since the mid-60s. The service provides in-depth coverage of 1,700 stocks, grouped into approximately 90 industries. For sheer volume of information, few sources can compare with the magnitude of this publication.

Value Line is issued weekly in three parts. Part I, the "Summary and Index," serves as a cumulative index to the entire set. The index leads the reader to the page on which each company report appears, as well as summarizing key data for all 1,700 stocks. This section lists the Value Line ratings, recent price, EPS, dividends, and other measures for each stock. The second section of Part I consists of about 20 screening lists that rank stocks by various characteristics such as "best performers," "lowest P/E," "highest dividend yield," and "widest discount from book value."

Part II, "Selection and Opinion," is a weekly newsletter of approximately 10 pages that contains articles on the economic outlook, the state of the market, current investing trends, and statistical indicators, including data on the Value Line Stock Index. Part II also offers a "stock highlight," which recommends an especially good investment buy, with an article discussing the company's virtues. A table listing all stocks that received a rating change in the previous week rounds out this section.

Part III, "Ratings and Reports," carries full-page coverage for every one of the 1,700 companies, plus an industry overview for the 90 industry groups. Each company analyses is updated four times per year on a rotating schedule.

Something to Do

Many companies now file reports electronically with the SEC under a system called EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval). At this writing, approximately 11,000 companies are using it. Check with the SEC for information (see Chapter 28).