About Value Line

Value Line's Ranking System Performance

Timeliness Ranking System

The results of Value Line's Timeliness Ranking System have been nothing less than remarkable—exactly what a savvy investor would expect from one of the most trusted and time-proven information providers in the industry. Just consider:

• A stock portfolio of #1 Ranked stocks for Timeliness from The Value Line Investment Survey, beginning in 1965 and updated at the beginning of each year, would have shown a gain of 28,913% through the month end of December 2008.
• That compares with a gain of 1,355% in the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the same period. Value Line #1 Ranked stocks outperformed the Dow by more than 18 to 1.
• This gain would have beaten the S&P 500 by nearly 15 to 1 for the same time span.

This chart is constructed by compounding annual price changes of the Value Line Groupings. Here the assumption is made that stocks are held for 12 months with no allowance for changes in rank during the year. Arithmetic averages are used to score the record in order to make the results comparable to portfolio performances. Equal weighting is assumed and no allowance is made for dividends or commissions.

For additional information on the charts for Timeliness, click the following: chart 1 chart 2 chart 3 You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader

**Through the month end of December 2008

The following chart shows a record of Value Line Timeliness ranks allowing for changes in rank each week also using arithmetic averages and equal weighting with no allowance made for dividends or commissions (1965 - month end of December 2008). Value Line started calculating the arithmetic indexes on a weekly basis in 1989.

**Through the month end of December 2008

As a Value Line Investment Survey user, you can benefit from the unique benefits of Value Line's Timeliness Ranking System:

• This proprietary system has successfully forecast the next six to 12 months relative performance of the approximately 1,700 stocks followed by Value Line's analysts and featured in The Investment Survey.
• For four decades, Value Line's Timeliness Ranking System has accurately anticipated stocks' subsequent relative price performance.
• The Ranking System screens millions of data items, and, using a proprietary series of calculations, ranks stocks for probable performance relative to all other stocks during the next six to 12 months. This Ranking System is the basis for the recommendations The Value Line Investment Survey provides to you and is a central component in the equity management of the Value Line mutual funds and private accounts.

Performance Ranking System

The Chart below shows a record of Value Line Performance ranks allowing for changes in rank each week (1995*-2008**). We rank stocks in The Value Line Investment Survey Small and Mid-Cap Edition using Performance Ranks. The Performance ranks are similar to the Timeliness ranks. They are particularly suited to handle short price histories, which characterize many of the companies in The Small and Mid-Cap Survey. A pattern approach is used to determine the probabilities of a stock outperforming the market over the next six months. These probabilities are combined with Technical ranks to produce the Performance ranks. This chart is constructed by compounding average weekly changes (arithmetically computed) of the Performance ranks since their inception in March 1995.

For additional information on the charts for Performance, please click here. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader

* Starting March 17, 1995 Note: Years end last Friday of December through 2004; December 29, 2005; December 26, 2006; December 28,2007; December 29, 2008.

Mutual Fund Ranking System

Equity Mutual Funds

The following chart shows the performance of all equity mutual funds ranked by The Value Line Mutual Fund Survey. The scoring assumes an equal dollar investment in each fund and monthly rebalancing. In simple terms, the system scores the average monthly percent change in net asset value of each of the five Value Line groupings. These monthly changes are then compounded in order to create a continuous series. The monthly rebalancing reflects the rank changes as they occur.

Through December 31, 2007

No-Load Equity Mutual Funds

This chart shows the performance of all no-load equity mutual funds ranked by The Value Line Mutual Fund Survey. The scoring assumes an equal dollar investment in each fund and monthly rebalancing. In simple terms, the system scores the average monthly percent change in net asset value of each of the five Value Line groupings. These monthly changes are then compounded in order to create a continuous series. The monthly rebalancing reflects the rank changes as they occur.

Through December 31, 2007