App Ed Review
There’s a big misunderstanding when it comes to stock picking: you better leave it to the professionals because they can sift through mounds of data in a jiffy and have other tools at their disposal. Not to mention, they’ve been doing it for years and have the experience to back it up. But there are several stock research websites designed to help you make the right investment. Ease of usage, and being able to play with several filters and metrics are the hallmark of the best stock screeners. Ideally, they should have competitive pricing to entice retail investors and provide the type of analysis you’re looking for.
Zacks Investment Research
Founded by Len Zacks in 1978, Zacks Investment Research is perhaps best known for its ranking system that rates stocks on a scale of one to five, the former being the highest. Stocks rated No. 1 by Zacks Ranks, as it’s formally known, have outperformed the S&P 500 in 26 of the 31 years it has been in use. Zacks also offers a stock screener, which lets you pick and choose using price changes, return on investment, dividends and several other metrics. The majority of these screens are free, but if you like to get into the weeds of things, you can spend $249 per year for a premium membership.
Morningstar
Anyone with even basic information about the financial sector has heard of Morningstar Rating, which assigns mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks and index funds ratings from one to five, the latter being the highest. Morningstar’s research covers over 600,000 investments. Morningstar also has a screener that lets you drill down into the specifics. The basic one is free to use, but if you’re looking for something feature-rich, you may have to spend money. Many investors have now started to bake in environmental, social and governance factors before they put money to work. If you’re one such investor, you’ll be happy to know that Morningstar also has an ESG screener.
Motley Fool Stock Advisor
Brothers Tom and David Gardner started the Motley Fool in 1993 in a bid to bring stock market investing to individual investors. It started as a stock-picking service but has since become a full-blown investment advisory service. Stock Advisor is Motley Fool’s crown jewel. While other screeners require a significant time commitment, Stock Advisor is ideal for people who do have hours to analyze a potential investment. Just sit back and let the service make recommendations to you. Stock Advisor has consistently beaten the S&P 500, and a subscription costs $99 per year for new members and $199 if you decide to renew.
Seeking Alpha
There’s so much to do on Seeking Alpha’s website that it may overwhelm the uninitiated. Like other stock research websites, Seeking Alpha too has a ranking system, and its top picks have surpassed returns generated by the S&P 500. The website is entirely crowd sourced, meaning all the content you see comes from one of its 16,000 active authors. Once submissions are made, an in-house team of editors at Seeking Alpha goes over them before publishing them. Stock screeners offered by Seeking Alpha aren’t free, unlike a few other services listed here. Its screener for top-rated stocks requires a Premium subscription costing $239 per year. Members of the Pro tier, which costs $2,400 annually, have access to a screener for investing ideas.
Stock Rover
Portfolio analytics is at the center of what Stock Rover does. If you’re looking to buy a stock, simply plug its name in the search bar and Stock Rover will provide detailed financial information to help you make an informed decision. This includes warnings about a company that lists all the reasons you should be wary. Its screener tool comes with pre-loaded screeners. You can use this tool to not only find stocks but also ETFs. You can also build custom screens. Stock Rover has three pricing tiers: Essentials costs $79.99 annually, Premium will set you back $179.99 per year and Premium Plus the most expensive at $249.99 a year. If you’re looking to leverage the full power of Stock Rover’s screeners, including ESG screens, you’ll have to subscribe to the Premium plan.
Jasir Jawaid is a writer for the personal finance website, Joy Wallet, which provides readers with useful information, resources, and tools to help maximize their financial fitness.
