The Motley Fool offers several widely used stock recommendation newsletters, including Stock Advisor, Rule Breakers, Rule Your Retirement, Everlasting Stocks, and Real Estate Winners. Many of these services have consistently beaten the market, making them attractive for anyone in search of reliable stock picks.
While it would be nice to get access to all of the Motley Fool’s services, that’s simply too costly for most investors. So, we’ll compare the Motley Fool’s stock picking services to help you decide which one is the best for you.
About The Motley Fool
The Motley Fool was founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner. It started out as a contrarian stock analysis firm and then grew massively after launching its online Stock Advisor newsletter in 2002.
Stock Advisor remains the Motley Fool’s flagship service, but it’s now backed up by more than a dozen other newsletter and stock recommendation offerings. The Motley Fool has also established itself as one of the largest financial media companies, providing everything from beginner-friendly investing guides to free stock tips.
What Motley Fool Services Offer
The Motley Fool offers a few important things with each of its stock-picking services.
The first thing you get is monthly stock picks. Some newsletters offer multiple picks each month, but most focus on a single new recommendation.
These picks come with detailed research reports that explain the rationale behind the recommendation. Motley Fool analysts make their case for why they think a stock is poised to beat the market.
Most services include updates about stocks in the portfolio. Updates usually focus on a single stock at a time and serve as miniature research reports, building on the original thesis behind a stock pick and dissecting recent company news.
The Motley Fool also includes a Rankings list for each of its services. This ranks the top 10 stock picks already in each service’s portfolio to double down on right now. It’s a very useful list for investors who have cash to invest in between new recommendations.
Motley Fool’s Investing Style
All of the Motley Fool’s investment services share a few principles in common.
First, all stock picks are long-term picks. Motley Fool typically aims to hold stock picks for at least five years and ideally longer. Some of the current picks in the Stock Advisor newsletter, for example, date back to its launch in 2002.
The Motley Fool also recommends diversification. You’re advised to hold at least 25 stocks in your portfolio, potentially adding more over time as you get more new recommendations. You can use the Rankings list to identify stocks to get your portfolio started when you first join the Motley Fool.
Many of the Motley Fool’s stock picks tend to be high-risk, high-reward picks. Several of its services explicitly focus on explosive growth stocks, while others gravitate towards “undiscovered” stocks that carry extra risk. So, investors using the Motley Fool’s services should have at least a modest appetite for risk.
Which Motley Fool Service Is Best?
We’ll take a closer look at our favorite Motley Fool services. Keep in mind that while each of these services has a lot to offer, it’s important to think about your own investing needs when choosing a newsletter.
Stock Advisor: Best Overall
Stock Advisor is the Motley Fool’s flagship stock picking newsletter used by more than 750,000 investors. This service is truly remarkable for its consistency in beating the stock market. As of December 2023, Stock Advisor has returned 520% since its launch in 2002 compared to 134% for the S&P 500.
Stock Advisor offers two new stock picks per month along with a Rankings list and a Foundational Stocks list that includes 10 stocks to help you launch a new portfolio. The portfolio is diversified across sectors and the stock picks come from two different teams of analysts, so you get a wider range of viewpoints than for other Motley Fool services.
At only $199 per year, Stock Advisor offers a great value for investors of all experience levels. It also provides a great introduction to the Motley Fool’s investing approach before you try out other Motley Fool newsletters.
New Member Special
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Epic Bundle: Best for Diversification
The Epic Bundle includes access to four Motley Fool services: Stock Advisor, Rule Breakers, Real Estate Winners, and Everlasting Stocks. It costs $499 per year, which is the same price you’d pay to buy just Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers ($299 per year)—so you get Real Estate Winners and Everlasting Stocks essentially for free.
Epic Bundle is a great choice if you want a lot of stock picks to build a diversified portfolio quickly. It’s also great for diversification since you get REIT picks in addition to stock picks.
Epic Bundle works especially well for more experienced investors who want to use the Motley Fool to generate their own investing ideas. You can see which companies and sectors Motley Fool analysts are most enthusiastic about across multiple services and get access to tons of research reports on past recommendations.
Special Offer
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Real Estate Winners: Great for Real Estate & Dividend Stocks
Real Estate Winners is a stock picking newsletter focused on REITs and real estate-related stocks. It’s a terrific service for investors who want to invest in real estate, either because they think the sector is hot or because they want to diversify their portfolio.
Real Estate Winners includes picks across multiple sub-sectors within the real estate industry, including homebuilders, rental housing operators, and commercial real estate developers. Many of the REITs that Real Estate Winners recommends pay lofty dividends, so this service can also appeal to dividend investors.
Real Estate Winners costs $249 per year and delivers one new stock pick each month.
UPDATE: Motley Fool Real Estate Winners is no longer a standalone service offering. It may be purchased as part of the Motley Fool Epic. Read our Motley Fool Epic review here or check out the service here.
What About the Other Services?
Other Motley Fool services worth considering include Everlasting Stocks and Rule Breakers, both of which are included in the Epic Bundle. Both Everlasting Stocks and Rule Breakers are similar to Stock Advisor in format and focus, but offer different picks. They only missed out on making our top picks because they cost slightly more than Stock Advisor.
The Motley Fool has more than a dozen services, some of which cost thousands of dollars per year. We’ve tested many of them, but not all of them, and the Motley Fool offers only limited information about some of its most exclusive services. So, you should do your own due diligence when considering these more expensive offerings.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that a stock recommendation service is only worthwhile if it will help you make more money in additional investment returns than the cost of the service itself. If a service can’t pass that test, it’s not worthwhile.
Conclusion: Motley Fool Services
The Motley Fool has a wide range of stock recommendation services that include stock picks, research reports, stock rankings, and more. It’s important to think carefully about your own investing needs when deciding which service is right for you.
We recommend Stock Advisor as the overall best Motley Fool service for most investors. For investors who want more picks to diversify their portfolio or generate ideas for research, the Epic Bundle provides a great value. Real estate and dividend investors should check out the Real Estate Winners newsletter.
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