What Is the IBD RS Rating? Explained Simply for 2026

The IBD Relative Strength (RS) Rating is a score from 1 to 99 that tells you how a stock’s price performance stacks up against all other stocks over roughly the past 12 months, with extra weight on the most recent months. A stock with an RS Rating of 90 has outperformed about 90% of the stocks in Investor’s Business Daily’s database during that time.

In plain English, it’s a leaderboard score for momentum. Instead of you manually comparing charts for hundreds of stocks, the RS Rating does the heavy lifting and gives each one a simple, single number.

Here’s the basic idea of how it’s built (IBD keeps the exact formula proprietary):

• IBD looks at a stock’s price performance over the last 12 months, usually ignoring the most recent week to reduce short‑term noise.
• It compares that performance to all other stocks in its universe.
• It then assigns a percentile rank from 1 to 99, where 99 is the very top of the pack.

So if NVIDIA (NVDA) has an RS Rating of 96 in mid‑2026, that means it’s been among the strongest price performers in the market over the past year, beating roughly 96% of stocks on price action alone. If Coca‑Cola (KO) shows an RS of 45, it has lagged more than half the market recently, even if it’s still a solid company fundamentally.

The RS Rating does not look at revenue, profits, or valuation multiples like the price‑to‑earnings (P/E) ratio. It’s purely about price performance relative to other stocks. Think of it as a momentum and strength shortcut, not a full report card.

To really "get" the IBD RS Rating, it helps to see how it behaves with real names.

In 2025 and early 2026, AI‑related and chip stocks like NVIDIA (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have often carried RS Ratings in the 90s, reflecting their strong price runs as AI spending ramped up and data‑center chip demand surged. By contrast, slower‑moving defensive names like some utilities and consumer staples tend to hang around the middle of the pack.

Here’s how to read the scale:

• 90–99: Top performers. These are the market’s recent leaders in price strength.
• 80–89: Strong but not absolute top tier. Often considered a sweet spot by IBD followers.
• 60–79: Above average. Better than most, but not standout leaders.
• 40–59: Middle of the road.
• 1–39: Laggards. These have underperformed most stocks over the last year.

Suppose you’re looking at two tech names in 2026:

• Microsoft (MSFT): RS Rating 88, steady uptrend after strong cloud and AI results.
• Intel (INTC): RS Rating 62, improving but still trailing many peers as it invests heavily in foundries.

Both could be interesting for different reasons, but the RS Rating tells you that MSFT’s price has been stronger relative to the market than INTC’s in the past year.

The key point: the RS Rating is relative. A stock can have a high RS even if the whole market has been weak, as long as it’s falling less than other stocks. Likewise, in a roaring bull market, a stock can still end up with a mediocre RS if it lags the big winners.

If you hang around IBD materials or growth‑stock communities, you’ll often hear that RS 80 or higher is the sweet spot. Why that level?

Historically, many of the big winners in past bull markets—think stocks like Apple (AAPL) during major iPhone cycles or Amazon (AMZN) in big e‑commerce booms—showed high RS Ratings before or during their biggest runs. A high RS didn’t guarantee success, but it often flagged stocks that were already being aggressively bought by institutions.

IBD’s research going back decades found that their top‑performing model stocks tended to have RS Ratings of at least 80 at the time they broke out of price bases and started major advances. That’s why they highlight 80+ as a kind of minimum threshold when they look for potential leaders.

Here’s how that might look in 2026:

• An AI infrastructure stock like Super Micro Computer (SMCI), which saw explosive gains in 2024–2025 on AI server demand, can still carry an RS in the high 80s or 90s if its price remains strong versus the rest of the market.
• A big bank like JPMorgan Chase (JPM) might have solid earnings and dividends, but its RS could sit in the 60s if financials haven’t been leading.

For many momentum‑oriented traders, RS 80+ is a filter, not a final decision. They may:

• Start with a screen of RS ≥ 80.
• Then check fundamentals like earnings growth, revenue trends, and margins.
• Then look at charts (support, resistance, volume) before acting.

You can think of RS 80+ as a way to narrow the massive stock universe down to a short list of recent winners, which you then research more deeply.

Investor’s Business Daily doesn’t publish the full formula, but they do explain the general approach: the RS Rating is a percentile ranking based mainly on 12‑month price performance, with more weight on the recent months. The very short‑term action (about the last week) is usually excluded so one wild day doesn’t swing the score too much.

A simplified way to think about it is:

1. Take the stock’s price performance over the last 12 months. 2. Compare that to all other stocks in IBD’s universe. 3. Convert that comparison into a 1–99 percentile.

IBD also uses a Relative Strength line on charts, which is a visual line comparing the stock’s price to the S&P 500. That’s related, but not the same as the RS Rating number. The line shows relative performance over time, while the rating gives you a current summary score.

To see the RS Rating in 2026, you typically need access to IBD’s tools:

• On investors.com (IBD’s website), subscribers can type a ticker like TSLA into the stock lookup box and see its RS Rating, along with other IBD ratings like EPS and Composite.
• In the MarketSmith platform (also owned by IBD), RS Ratings appear directly on charts and in stock screens.

If you don’t subscribe to IBD, some brokers and research platforms may show "relative strength" metrics, but be careful: these often use different formulas (for example, performance vs. the S&P 500 over 6 or 12 months) and are not the official IBD RS Rating.

So if you want the exact IBD RS number, you’ll need to use IBD’s own tools or services that specifically license their data.

Think of the IBD RS Rating as a shortcut to find strong trends, not as a magic buy or sell signal. Here’s how a regular investor can use it in 2026 without overcomplicating things:

1. Screen for ideas Start by looking for RS 80+ stocks in areas you already understand—tech, healthcare, energy, whatever fits your interest. For example, an investor focused on large‑cap tech might watch names like Microsoft (MSFT), NVIDIA (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), or Alphabet (GOOGL) when they carry RS in the 80s or 90s.

2. Pair RS with earnings IBD’s own research emphasizes combining RS with strong earnings and sales growth. For instance, when Tesla (TSLA) posts double‑digit revenue growth and a solid RS Rating, that combo tends to get growth investors’ attention more than RS alone.

3. Use RS to compare peers If you’re torn between two similar stocks, RS can help you see which one has been the stronger performer. Comparing AMD vs. NVDA or Visa (V) vs. Mastercard (MA), the one with the higher RS has had stronger recent price action.

4. Watch for RS changes A rising RS can be an early sign that a stock is quietly improving before it hits the headlines. A falling RS can flag that a former leader is losing steam, even if the price hasn’t broken down badly yet.

5. Stay aware of the market backdrop In 2026, macro themes like AI spending, interest‑rate expectations, and election headlines can rotate which sectors lead. RS helps you quickly see where money is flowing—whether that’s into AI chips, cloud software, energy, or something else.

The big idea: use RS to focus your precious research time on stocks the market is already rewarding, then dig into the story, numbers, and risks before making any decisions that fit your own plan.

The IBD RS Rating is powerful, but it has real limitations. Knowing those helps you avoid common traps.

1. It’s backward‑looking RS is based on past price performance. A stock with a 98 RS might have already made an enormous run—think of how Super Micro Computer (SMCI) exploded higher in 2024–2025—so the risk of a sharp pullback can be elevated after a big move.

2. It ignores valuation and fundamentals RS doesn’t care if a stock trades at 40 times earnings or 10 times earnings, or whether earnings are growing or shrinking. For example, in 2025–2026 some speculative AI or biotech names have sported high RS Ratings despite having tiny or negative earnings, simply because their prices were surging.

3. Leaders can flip fast High‑RS groups can fall out of favor quickly when the market narrative changes. In 2022 it was energy; in 2023–2025 it was mega‑cap tech and AI; in 2026 leadership could rotate again. If you only chase what was hot, you may be late to the party.

4. High RS ≠ low risk A stock like TSLA or NVDA with a high RS can still move 5–10% in a day around earnings or big news. RS doesn’t measure volatility or downside risk; it only summarizes relative strength vs. other stocks.

Ways to use RS more safely:

• Combine it with basics like revenue trends, earnings per share growth, and balance‑sheet health.
• Look at charts for signs of major support and resistance instead of buying blindly because RS is high.
• Be aware of position size—even in a strong RS stock, keeping each individual position to a level you’re comfortable with can help you sleep at night.

In short, RS is a great signal of where the wind is blowing, but you still have to steer the boat.