Indispensable for Long-Term Equity Investors

Value Line is an invaluable resource for long-term investors, providing a wealth of historical perspective (data) on 1700 companies and a solid fundamental approach to analysis.

Overall Rating
Value
Frequency
Accuracy

Was this review helpful? Yes   No

08 March 2010

Manifest

Member Page
Other Reviews

Outstanding!

Value Line is the only service I subscribe to, and have found it invaluable. I think some of the reviewers are missing the point... as with any provider, you're not supposed to blindly buy a stock because of someone's rating.

What Value Line Investment Survey offers (and delivers!) is top quality research, invaluable data and annual results for 3,000+ stocks, over 18 years. It saves me a huge amount of research time, and is, in my opinion, the only service an investor could ever need.

I have also found their ratings to be reasonably accurate over time; that said, I don't buy based on ratings but based on my own analysis.

Overall, VL is a life saver.

Overall Rating
Value
Accuracy

2 of 2 people have found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful? Yes   No

15 December 2009

MoneyHoneyBlog

Member Page
Other Reviews

The following review is from www.amazon.com

Historical Timeliness Ranks tell it all...

The feature I like the best is that using the software program's technical analysis charting feature that is included on the CDROM, you can see exactly how effective Value Line recommendations have been over time. It's rare, but refreshing, to know a company has the conviction to show the public how it's recommendations have performed over time.

Overall Rating

2 of 2 people have found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful? Yes   No

01 November 2009

External Website

The following review is from www.amazon.com

The AOL of finance!

Value Line is well known for its reputation of being independent and forthcoming regarding its stock picks. Value Line is mentioned in many finance textbooks as foiling those who believe in the "efficient market hypothesis." As a matter of fact, Value Line recommended Amazon.com on 2/1/02 at $12.53 -Amazon closed at 18.63 on 6/10/02. Besides allowing me to see how its stock picks have done historically, the software included on the CD allows me to create filters and portoflios of stocks that...

Overall Rating

2 of 2 people have found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful? Yes   No

01 November 2009

External Website

Flowing ideas!

I have never actually subscribe to Valueline, yet I have always found a way to get my hands on a copy whether through the library or for the last few years a colleague of mine lent them to me.
I never traded directly from the picks, yet I often used some of the analysis techniques in my own research. It always has gotten ideas gushing in my head!
Excellent service, I am not quite sure if I would pay ~600$ for it although in retrospect this service has probably made back much more then that figure!

Overall Rating
Value
Frequency
Accuracy

1 of 1 people have found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful? Yes   No

22 December 2009

Theteendollar

Member Page
Other Reviews

The Best has seen Better Days

There is no question in my mind Value Line were innovators. More or less the the first house to share empirical research with the common man, they were the first Quants. Everyone's techniques today bear some heritage with the what Value Line Started. Many of the world's most famous investors still use/reference it. (Warren Buffett, Walter Schloss, William O'neill etc etc)

The survey itself is heavily technical but easily digestible. They have a clear and easy ranking system so even if you don;t understand what xyz metric means you'll know what VL thinks about it. It comes once a week and fits into a custom binder they give you. It is expensive, but if you account is large enough it won;t matter. Some libraries carry ti so you can go it there for free if you desire.

The website is bit of a mess and I still haven't used it much. But they do have a computer stock screener that updates weekly you can purchase form them.

their long term track record is impeccable. Who else has had nearly 70 years of market beating performance! 70 years! I can attest to this my grandfather was an early adopter and he used it his entire life and grew a small fortune that my family still benefits from today.

However the last ten years have not been kind to Value Line and I fear for its future. They have not changed well to match with the internet age and are losing subscribers. What was once fast top notch investment research is now in the internet age slow top notch investment research. Weekly isn't fast enough anymore. And the no gain market hasn't helped either.

Worse there seems to be trouble under the hood. legendary Sam Eisenstadt (one of the creators of the Value Line ranking formula) has been unceremoniously been given the boot and the company is being investigated by the SEC for their accounting practices.

They may have seen better days but they still are the best for conservative investors. I still recommend them.

Overall Rating
Value
Frequency
Accuracy

1 of 1 people have found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful? Yes   No

24 January 2010

Tastylunch

Member Page
Other Reviews

Not my cup of tea but I often read it for free...

...at the public library.

I have requested the giant volumes behind the desk more than a few times. The info is thoughtful and thorough, it is just impractical to a degree, in my humble opinion.

The price is kinda steep for this kind of data.

Remember the Beardstown ladies?

http://www.amazon.com/Beardstown-Ladies-Common-Sense-Investment-Market/dp/0786881208

They used Value Line almost exclusively, and claimed to do well, until it came out that their later returns did not match their earlier ones.

I think the guides provide a good concise fundie analysis of the firms and their projected earnings, but that is hard to do accurately over time and consistently. One is better to adopt the IBD model of momentum position plays and limit the fundies to their stock health analysis, and in using their online content version subscriptions, than using VL.

Best *practical* thing about VL is their updated timeliness and safety ratings, arguably.

The trouble with financial services is everyone professes to be an expert and everyone professes to have simple solutions for making us all rich and able to quit our day jobs, see:

http://ezinearticles.com/?There-Is-No-Such-Thing-As-Good-Stock&id=2567025

But if it was that easy it would have already happened!

Overall Rating
Value
Frequency
Accuracy

1 of 1 people have found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful? Yes   No

22 January 2010

BigT

Member Page
Other Reviews

Picks Tanked

Got involved in an expensive service...got my first pick and the stock tanked. Almost zerod out. Waste. Other companies do it better.

Overall Rating
Accuracy

0 of 1 people have found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful? Yes   No

25 November 2009

Unclebourbon

Member Page
Other Reviews