Comdex Rating
The Comdex is a ranking exclusive to VitalSigns. The letter rating assigned to a company can be confusing, with no standardized scale.
The Comdex interprets the ratings into percentile rankings, showing the percentage of insurers ranked lower than a given company. If a company has an 80 Comdex, 80% of carriers are ranked lower.
S&P Rating
A bond rating system provided by Standard & Poor's (S&P) to rate the quality of bonds based on the rating agency's assessment of the quality of the bonds (e.g., AAA is best quality, A- is a lower quality than AAA, etc.). A rating of BBB- is the lowest S&P credit rating that is still classified as investment grade.
What is Moody’s rating process?
* The Rating Process
Gathers information sufficient to evaluate risk to investors who might own or buy a given security,
develops a conclusion in committee on the appropriate rating,
monitors on an ongoing basis to determine whether the rating should be changed, and
informs the marketplace and market participants of Moody’s actions.
* How does a Moody’s rating committee work?
Moody’s ratings are initially determined or subsequently changed through committee. The lead analyst for a given company, industry, country or asset type frames the discussion, including offering the rating recommendation and its rationale.
At minimum, the committee includes a managing director or other designated individual and the lead analyst. The committee may be expanded to include as many perspectives and disciplines as are needed to address all analytical issues relevant to the issuer and the security being rated.
Issues affecting the size of the committee may include the size of the issuer, complexity of the security, geography or whether a transaction of this type has ever been done before. The discussions of the committees are strictly confidential, and only Moody’s analysts may serve on them.
