In his latest column for Canada’s Globe and Mail, Validea CEO John Reese takes a look at how some companies with top credit ratings look as possible investments.

Following the U.S.’s credit downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, S&P also downgraded several insurance companies tied to the U.S. markets, Reese notes. “The downgrades and changes in outlook were the latest part of a lengthy trend,” he says. “Back in the early 1980s, about 60 U.S. companies had triple-A credit ratings; by 2000, the number was down to about 15. Today, only four remain: Microsoft Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Johnson & Johnson, and Automatic Data Processing Inc.”

In addition to those four, Reese uses his “Guru Strategies” to assess two other U.S. companies with AA+ ratings, as well as some of Canada’s highest-rated firms. “I found a mixed bag,” he says. “In the U.S., four of the six get solid scores; in Canada, only a few … A-level companies are publicly traded on Canadian exchanges, and those that are … don’t excite my gurus’ models.”

To read the full article and see the four top-rated U.S. firms whose stocks looked attractive, click here.