The Information Content of Standard & Poor's Common Stock Ranking Changes

Abstract

This study examines the information content of Standard & Poor's common stock ranking changes. Since prior studies find Standard & Poor's common stock rankings provide investors with a measure of risk, a ranking change may signify a change in risk. Common stock ranking changes made by Standard & Poor's may provide investors with a low-cost means of predicting the direction of future market risk. Internal memoranda containing ranking changes from June 1985 through May 1987 were obtained directly from Standard & Poor's. Using a sample of 191 upgrades and 582 downgrades, results indicate that mean portfolio betas change following Standard & Poor's memorandum dates for ranking changes.