Publicly Available Brokerage Firm Ratings on Companies Filing Bankruptcy Sept. – Dec. 2002



Brokerage Firm

Weiss

Safety

   Rating*

# of Companies Rated at Time of Bankruptcy Filing**

 

# of Companies Rated  6 Mo. before Bankruptcy Filing

Buy¹

Hold²

Sell³

Dropped

Buy¹

Hold²

Sell³

Not  Rated

Banc of America Securities

C+

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

1

Barrington Research

U

 

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

Bear Stearns

C

1

1

1

1

1

2

 

1

Blaylock & Partners

U

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

1

Buckingham Research

A-

 

 

1

 

 

1

 

 

CIBC World Markets

B+

 

2

 

 

 

1

 

1

Credit Lyonnais

B+

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

Credit Suisse First Boston

C-

 

4

3

 

2

3

 

2

Deutsche Bank

C+

 

 

2

 

 

2

 

 

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

C

 

 

1

 

1

 

 

 

Hibernia Southcoast Capital

U

 

1

 

 

1

 

 

 

JP Morgan

B

 

1

 

 

1

 

 

 

Kaufman Bros.

U

 

 

2

 

1

1

 

 

Lehman Brothers

C

 

 

4

 

 

4

 

 

Loop Capital Markets

U

 

 

1

 

 

1

 

 

McDonald Investments

A-

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

1

Merrill Lynch

C-

 

 

3

 

 

1

2

 

Morgan Stanley DW Inc.

B-

 

1

2

1

 

1

3

 

Needham & Co.

U

 

 

 

1

1

 

 

 

Pacific Crest Securities

A-

 

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

Punk, Ziegel & Company

A-

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

Raymond James

B+

 

1

1

 

 

2

 

 

RBC Capital Markets

U

 

1

3

 

 

1

2

1

Salomon Smith Barney

C

 

 

4

 

1

2

1

 

SCO Financial Group

U

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

Soundview Technology Group

A

 

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray

B-

 

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

UBS Warburg

C-

 

1

1

1

1

2

 

 

Wachovia Securities

B

 

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

WR Hambrect & Co.

C+

 

1

 

 

 

1

 

 

Total

 

4
6.8%

21
35.6%

30
50.8%

4
6.8%

13
22.0%

30
50.8%

8
13.6%

8
13.6%

  Weiss Safety Rating A=Excellent, B=Good, C=Fair, D=Weak, E=Very Weak, F=Failed, U=Unrated

  *Weiss Safety Ratings represent a completely independent, unbiased opinion of a firm’s financial safety.  The ratings are not an evaluation of the brokerage firm's  stock recommendations.

**Publicly available ratings are defined as those that investors or brokers have access to via Bloomberg, Yahoo.com, and Briefing.com. In some cases, brokerage firms may have notified private sources such as First Call or Zack's that they dropped coverage or changed the rating on the stock prior to the failure date. However, these private sources are available strictly to clients of the firms. In total, 51 publicly traded companies filed for Chapter 11 between September 1 and December 31, 2002, with a combined peak market capitalization of $67 billion. Of these, only 18, with a combined peak market capitalization of $49 billion, were rated by the brokerage firms covered in this analysis. The analysis covered 51 stock ratings available from 30 brokerage firms six months before bankruptcy and 55 ratings at the date of bankruptcy filing.

  ¹ "Buy" = "strong buy," "buy," "recommended list," "accumulate,"  "attractive,"  "outperform," "overweight," and "add."

  ² "Hold" = "hold," "hold/neutral,"  "market perform," and "fairly valued."

  ³ "Sell" = "reduce," "sell," "underperform," "underweight," "unattractive," "avoid," and "source of funds."

 

             

 

Source:  Weiss Ratings, Inc., January 21, 2003

www.WeissRatings.com

 

1/21/03 News Release | 30 Brokerage Firms (Attachment 1) | 18 Companies (Attachment 2)