Which premium subscriber service is best for your stock investing?
In this Comparison
- The Motley Fool Overview
- Zacks Overview
- 3 Key Differences Between Motley Fool and Zacks
- The Bottom Line – Which is Best for You?
The Motley Fool Overview
Joining The Motley Fool’s premium services might give you the edge you’ve been looking for to beat the market. The Motley Fool was founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner. The Motley Fool has a vast array of free information on its website and several different levels of paid premium services.
The paid premium services are focused on stock picking. The Motley Fool’s oldest and most popular service is called Stock Advisor. This service retails at $199 per year. This newsletter gives subscribers:
- Two stock picks per month
- 10 “best buy now” stock picks per month from their list of 300 favorites
- In-depth analysis of market conditions and stock picks
- Plenty of entertainment – as you can tell by their name
- Starter stock picks for new subscribers
The Motley Fool stock picks have continually beat the market returns. However, investors must be patient and recommend having a 5-year or more long-term outlook for their strategies to play out.
Motley Fool is good at picking stocks and is also persistent in marketing. This means you have probably seen their advertisements. Also, once you join Motley Fool you will see a lot of emails from them. Motley Fool will try to upsell you to another service that they offer. However, their stock pics are worth it. You can also change your preferences to get fewer emails if you want to.
The Stock Advisor (join here for one year at $79, that’s 60% off) service was launched in 2002 and leans toward value picks. Motley Fool offers other services like Rule Breakers, which is more about growth stock picks within tech, biotech, and other emerging segments.
Zacks Overview
Zacks was founded in 1978 by Len Zacks. While earning his Ph.D. from MIT in Economics, Len discovered what he considers to be his investing edge:
Earnings estimate revisions are the most powerful force impacting stock prices. (source)
Everything at Zacks revolves around their system called: Zacks Ranks.
Zacks Ranks rates equities according to their earnings potential. The system ranks stocks between one and five. A #1 Zacks Rank means that it is a strong buy. Reversely a #5 Zacks Rank is a strong sell.
According to Zacks, only five percent of the total stocks they cover would qualify as #1 Zack Rank stocks. They keep a list of 200 companies on this coveted list. And remember, the basis of their rankings is always related to estimated earnings and actual earnings.
Initially, the Zacks Ranks system was only available for stocks, but it now includes mutual funds and ETFs.
The cost to join Zacks Premium is $249 per year. Of course, they have other premium services but at a higher price. Here is a summary:
- Zacks Premium – $249 per year
- Zacks Investor Collection – $495 per year
- Zacks Ultimate – $2995 per year
Follow this link to sign up with Zacks.
3 Differences Between Motley Fool and Zacks
The first difference between the two services is that Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor tells you two specific stocks to buy per month, and Zacks Premium gives you full access to Zacks Ranks, but you must then pick which stocks you want to buy.
Secondly, the Stock Advisor is more of newsletter service. They will be sending lots of information via email. Zacks Premium is more of an access pass to the member area of their website.
Finally, you can join Motley Fool with our link above for an introductory offer of $79 for your first year, but Zacks is $239 per year.
| MF’s Stock Advisor | Zacks |
| $199 per year | $239 per year |
| Mixture of Value & Growth | Ranks based on Earnings |
| 2 picks per month | Access Zacks #1 Rank List |
| Portfolio starter picks | List of 50 long-term stocks |
| 10 best buys now from 300 | Research reports |
Another article on this comparison can be read here.
The Bottom Line – Which is Best for You?
Considering you want the best return while picking stocks, the questions that remain are:
Do you want to pick stocks with your own due diligence and analysis?
Do you want to rely on and trust a company like The Motley Fool?
If you choose to follow the Motley Fool’s Stock advisor program you will need to be dedicated to following their picks and holding their picks for at least five years. This includes holding some losers in hopes of the winners being home runs.
If you would rather follow a research company that adheres to a strict mathematically based ranking, according to estimated earnings, then Zacks would be a good choice for you.
Both services offer a short trial period with a money-back guarantee. So, maybe you should check both of them out before you decide.
