Zacks Investment Management

Wealth Management Group

Zacks Performace Rank

One of the most powerful stock ranking systems in the industry

Zacks Rank Recommendation Avg. Annual
Performance
1 Strong Buy 31.39%
2 Moderate Buy 20.85%
3 Hold 11.55%
4 Moderate Sell 5.27%
5 Strong Sell 3.54%
THE ZACKS PERFORMANCE RANK, which is the core of the Zacks investment philosophy, has delivered annualized returns of over 30% since 1982. It is a proprietary quantitative stock ranking model based on the pattern of revisions in analysts' earning estimates. Through years of quantitative study we have demonstrated that the changes that analysts make today to their earnings estimates are strong and accurate predictors of future stock performance. We rank a universe of approximately 4,000 U.S. companies from #1 "strong buy" through #5 "strong sell." For the period 1988 through 2005, the Zacks #1 ranked stocks produced a 32.51% net annualized return and the #5 ranked stocks produced a 4.63% net annualized return based on a monthly rebalancing. In the same period, the S&P 500 produced a 11.66% annualized return.

DISCLOSURE: Annualized returns are for Jan 1, 1988 through Dec 31, 2007. Comparable annualized returns for the S&P 500 are 11.66%.

The performance of the Zacks Rank portfolios for annual and year-to-date periods are the linked monthly total returns (price changes + dividends) of equal weighted hypothetical portfolios, consisting of those stocks with the indicated Zacks Rank, assuming monthly rebalancing and zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios. The hypothetical portfolios were created at the beginning of each month from January 1988 forward based on the values of the Zacks Rank available to Zacks' clients before the beginning of each month. The portfolios created monthly from 1988 through September 2006 exclude ADRs and are comprised of stocks that have the indicated Zacks Rank and were covered by at least two analysts at the time of the stocks inclusion in the portfolio. Starting in October 2006 and going forward, the portfolios are comprised of all stocks with the indicated Zacks Rank and do not exclude ADRs, which is more reflective of the list of stocks that customers will find on the Zacks web sites. These performance numbers have been audited from 1995 through 2003 by Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP.

The S&P 500 Index ("S&P 500") is a well-known, unmanaged index of the prices of 500 large-company common stocks selected by Standard & Poor's. The S&P 500 includes the reinvestment of all dividends, no transaction costs, and represents the gross returns before management fees.