Seeking Alpha vs The Motley Fool vs Morningstar vs Zacks: Which Is Best?
Seeking Alpha, The Motley Fool, Morningstar, and Zacks are four popular investment research websites for individual investors.
However, they all have their own pros and cons and sets of features, and all serve slightly different audiences.
Fortunately, it's not that hard to figure out which one is right for you once you know what they do differently.
In this article, I cover what makes each of these websites popular, what products they offer, how much each of them costs, and what you'll get as a customer.
A quick look
| Seeking Alpha | Motley Fool | Morningstar | Zacks | |
| Rating | ||||
| Best for | Premium investment research and momentum-based stock picking | Fundamental-based stock picking | Researching ETFs and mutual funds | Free stock rating system based on earnings estimate revisions |
| Type of investor | Any, including advanced | Any | Advanced | Advanced |
| Type of service | Self-directed and done-for-you | Done-for-you | Self-directed | Self-directed |
Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha is an investment research website that crowdsources investment analysis from more than 18,000 experienced investors and analysts.
It also provides fundamental data, news, stock screeners, portfolio tools, and a quantitative stock grading system.
Seeking Alpha is primarily geared towards advanced investors who want to perform their own due diligence.
You can access a few articles per month for free, but you will bump into a paywall for Seeking Alpha Premium if you use the site more than that. Seeking Alpha also recently launched Alpha Picks, a stock picking service fueled by the data on the website.
More on both of these products below.
Seeking Alpha Premium
- Service type: Stock research and opinionated analysis
- Rating:
- Cost: $299/year (Black Friday sale: $209 + 7-day free trial with this link)
As mentioned above, you will bump into a paywall for Premium after getting a few analysis articles for free.
What I like about these articles is that they're well-researched and opinionated.
If I'm thinking about investing in Apple, for example, I can look up the latest articles on Apple stock and read reports from a number of different analysts about whether they think it's a buy, sell, or hold.
This helps me find things I may have missed and conduct a much more thorough analysis in less time than I otherwise would be able to.
About once per month, I look up all of the stocks I own and make sure I'm aware of anything that will materially affect their businesses. Since there are varied opinions all in one place, I can get a complete picture of each of my stocks in about 30 minutes.
A Premium subscription will unlock access to everything Seeking Alpha has to offer (except for Alpha Picks):
- Analysis: Read a seemingly unlimited amount of research on your favorite stocks. More than 10,000 stock reports are published every month.
- Ratings: See every stock's quantitative ratings, Wall Street analyst ratings, and contributor ratings.
- Financial data: Get full financial data (income, balance sheets, and cash flow statements), growth trends, and projections.
- Factor grades: Stocks are graded based on valuation, growth, profitability, momentum, and earnings revisions.
- Dividend grades: Companies' dividends are graded based on safety, growth, yield, and consistency.
- Other: News, stock screener, and portfolio tools.
I use the analysis section the most but also reference the Quant Ratings, Factor & Dividend Grades.
Premium comes with a 7-day trial, so you can use it, see if you like it, and decide whether to pay for it based on your experience.
Alpha Picks
- Service type: Stock-picking newsletter
- Rating:
- Cost: $499/year (Black Friday sale: $359 introductory offer with this link)
Seeking Alpha launched Alpha Picks in July 2022. The performance has been excellent since its inception.
Alpha Picks is a momentum-based stock-picking service. The team uses a number of quantitative tools to gauge which stocks are outperforming their peers.
If the strong price action is supported by the stock's fundamentals, it becomes a candidate for the portfolio.
We've been in a bull market since Alpha Picks was launched, but the results so far have been very good:
Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results.
The team makes two new stock recommendations per month.
However, there are two main drawbacks to Alpha Picks. First, it's more expensive than The Motley Fool's Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers (more on those below). It's also a relatively new service and has yet to be tested during a bear market.
The Motley Fool
The Motley Fool was founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner.
While Seeking Alpha primarily provides the tools and information you need to perform your own investment research, The Motley Fool mainly sells stock-picking services. Its two most popular products are Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers.
Both of these services provide two new stock picks per month and are suitable for most types of investors.
Stock Advisor
- Service type: Stock-picking newsletter
- Rating:
- Cost: $199/year ($99 introductory offer with this link)
Stock Advisor is The Motley Fool's flagship product and has over one million subscribers.
Since its inception in 2002, Stock Advisor has achieved impressive results, having outperformed the S&P 757% to 167% (as of Sep 23, 2024).
Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results.
The Stock Advisor investment team is looking for companies with robust competitive advantages and strong growth potential. The team generally recommends stable, well-established businesses.
The Stock Advisor strategy involves holding stocks for at least five years.
Given this holding period and the fact that they typically invest in growth stocks, you should expect to experience volatility.
Even if the team provides you with winning stock picks over the long run, you'll need to have the stomach to weather the inevitable downturns.
In addition to the two monthly stock picks, a subscription to Stock Advisor will come with access to a list of the team's best stocks to buy now, educational content, and online community.
Rule Breakers
- Service type: Stock-picking newsletter
- Rating:
- Cost: $499/year ($300 introductory offer with this link)
Note: Rule Breakers is now only available through Motley Fool's Epic service, which includes subscriptions to Rule Breakers, Stock Advisor, Hidden Gems, and Dividend Investor.
Motley Fool's Rule Breakers is very similar to Stock Advisor.
It's also a stock-picking newsletter that provides two new stock picks per month. Rule Breakers also gives subscribers a list of the best stocks to buy now, some educational material, and access to an online community. It also has outperformed the market.
Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results.
However, Rule Breakers invests in different companies. While Stock Advisor tends to focus on well-established businesses, the Rule Breakers team invests in disruptive companies with the potential to reshape entire industries.
Because of this investment strategy, the Rule Breakers portfolio tends to be even more volatile than Stock Advisor's. The team regularly invests in stocks with very high or negative P/E ratios — it's a more speculative service overall.
Morningstar
Out of the four websites on this list, Morningstar provides the most value for free.
Morningstar is best known for its independent research, especially on ETFs and mutual funds.
It caters to a slightly more sophisticated investor and is frequently used by financial advisors and other professionals. Morningstar has an excellent reputation in the investment industry.
Unlike Seeking Alpha, however, which crowdsources its investment research from third-party contributors, all of Morningstar's analysis is written in-house by its team of professionals.
Morningstar Investor
- Service type: Stock and fund research
- Rating:
- Cost: $249/year (7-day free trial with this link)
A subscription to Morningstar Investor will unlock Morningstar Ratings for stocks and funds, which you can use to find or compare investments.
The rating system uses various valuation and performance metrics, which cover a broad range of data and focus on factors that drive long-term value.
You also get access to Morningstar's analysts' pre-filtered investment lists to get ideas straight from the team or set up your own screener with any of more than 200 unique data points.
Plus, its objective and continuous analysis will always keep you on top of why your stocks are moving.
Morningstar Investor also comes with a number of portfolio analysis tools to measure your asset allocation across region, industry, and valuation so you always know exactly how concentrated you are in each area.
Ratings, objective analysis, and portfolio insights — that's what you'll get with Morningstar Investor.
Zacks
Zacks was founded in 1978 by Len Zacks.
The MIT researcher found “the most powerful force impacting stock prices” and created a stock rating system based on it. This system is the core of the Zacks website.
What he discovered was that when Wall Street analysts adjusted their earnings estimates, stock prices tended to follow in the near- to medium-term.
Therefore, tracking these adjustments (which could be higher or lower) could be a leading indicator of movements in stock prices.
Based on these findings, the Zacks Rank system was built. It grades stocks on a scale from #1, “Strong Buy,” to #5, “Strong Sell.”
Zacks Premium
- Service type: Stock research and recommendations
- Rating:
- Cost: $249/year (30-day free trial with this link)
A Zacks Premium subscription will give you complete access to the ranking system.
You can look up any stock's Zacks Rank or look at all of the stocks on the #1 “Strong Buy” list (which you may want to buy) and the #5 “Strong Sell” list (which you may want to avoid).
As I covered in my Zacks Premium Review, I see a few problems with the service:
- The system is outdated: When the system was launched in the 1970s, Len Zacks uncovered a real market inefficiency. But now that everyone knows about it, that inefficiency is no longer an inefficiency — investors know how analysts' estimate revisions impact stock prices and price stocks accordingly.
- You don't actually need Zacks Premium: You can look up an unlimited number of stocks on Zacks and get their Zacks Rank without paying for Premium.
- Zacks performance reporting has limitations: Zacks spells out various disclosures about its performance data. Based on these disclosures, don't expect to get the same results its system advertises.
For these reasons, I personally don't find a subscription to Zacks Premium to be worth it. However, some people may find the system works well for them.
Pro and con summary
Below is a summary of each service's main benefits and drawbacks.
Seeking Alpha
| Pros | Cons |
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The Motley Fool
| Pros | Cons |
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Morningstar
| Pros | Cons |
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Zacks
| Pros | Cons |
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How they compare one-to-one
If you're having a hard time deciding between two of these services, here are short head-to-head comparisons of each.
The Motley Fool vs Seeking Alpha
The Motley Fool provides stock picking services, whereas Seeking Alpha Premium is an investment research website where you can do your own analysis.
If you want to compare The Motley Fool's and Seeking Alpha's stock picking services, see my Stock Advisor vs Alpha Picks article.
The Motley Fool vs Zacks
Of these two, The Motley Fool provides done-for-you stock picking services, whereas Zacks provides stock ranks based on its proprietary system.
If you're considering Zacks Premium, I'd recommend Seeking Alpha Premium instead. You can see why in my Zacks Premium Review.
The Motley Fool vs Morningstar
If you're looking for stock picks, choose The Motley Fool. I cover its flagship service in detail in this Motley Fool Stock Advisor Review.
If you're looking for objective analysis and ratings on ETFs and mutual funds, choose Morningstar.
Seeking Alpha vs Morningstar
Seeking Alpha's analysis is subjective, opinionated, and crowdsourced from thousands of contributors. It also has more ratings data and more tools for quantitative analysis.
Morningstar's analysis is more objective and professional, and the same is true about its ratings.
If you want opinions, choose Seeking Alpha. If you want objectivity, choose Morningstar.
Seeking Alpha vs Zacks
Seeking Alpha has earnings estimate revisions (which is what Zacks is built on) and so much more. Just choose Seeking Alpha.
Final verdict
Seeking Alpha Premium is my favorite service for premium investment research. Its robust set of tools, ratings, and stock market analysis makes it a great resource for many investors.
If you're new to the stock market, don't have time to do your own research, or would rather use a stock picking service, you'll want to check out Alpha Picks, Stock Advisor, or Rule Breakers.
For the best portfolio tools, objective analysis, and fund ratings, Morningstar is the service for you. It also has a lot of free information, so I'd encourage you to try using it for your fund research even if you aren't interested in Morningstar Investor.
Of the services on this list, Zacks Premium is the one I would skip.
