Moody’s rating scale
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Moody’s ratings
- American firm
- Date of foundation : 1900
- Turnover: 4.2 billion USD
- Net income : 1 billion USD
- Total staff: 12 300 staff members worldwide
- Presence in 42 countries
- Market share: 40%
Moody’s rating scale
Moody’s rating scale, which ranges from a maximum Aaa to a minimum C, consists of 21 notches and two categories:
- Investment category for the financially sound companies.
- Speculative category for the companies with a higher risk of defaulting.
| Categories | Rating symbols | Rating notches | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investment | Aaa | Highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk | |
| Aa | Aa1 | High quality, subject to very low credit risk | |
| Aa2 | |||
| Aa3 | |||
| A | A1 | Upper-medium grade, subject to low credit risk | |
| A2 | |||
| A3 | |||
| Baa | Baa1 | Medium-grade, subject to moderate credit risk and may possess certain speculative characteristics | |
| Baa2 | |||
| Baa3 | |||
| Speculative | Ba | Ba1 | Judged to be speculative, subject to substantial credit risk |
| Ba2 | |||
| Ba3 | |||
| B | B1 | Considered speculative, subject to high credit risk | |
| B2 | |||
| B3 | |||
| Caa | Caa1 | Speculative of poor standing and subject to very high credit risk | |
| Caa2 | |||
| Caa3 | |||
| Ca | Speculative and likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest | ||
| C | The lowest rated and typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest |
