Zacks Investment Research is a stock analysis firm that offers in-depth research and stock ratings for self-directed investors. While there’s a lot to like about Zacks, the sheer number of highly rated stocks can make it hard to narrow your focus and find the best investments.
The good news is that there are Zacks alternatives that offer similar high-quality stock research, but have more tools to help you quickly find investments that suit your strategy. We’ll highlight five of the best alternatives to Zacks and explain what type of investor each is best for.
- Best for Stock Picks – Motley Fool
- Best for Expert Analysis – Seeking Alpha
- Best for Fund Research – Morningstar
- Best for Basic Stock Analysis – Yahoo Finance
- Best for In-depth Stock Research – Stock Rover
Best Zacks Alternatives
We’ll look more closely at each of the top Zacks alternatives so you can decide which is best for you.
Best for Stock Picks – The Motley Fool
The Motley Fool is a stock analysis firm that conducts similar research to Zacks, but packages it into services with ready-to-buy stock recommendations. The platform’s flagship service, Stock Advisor, includes two new stock picks each month and doesn’t require any research or market timing on your part. All you have to do is buy each stock pick as it’s announced.
The benefit of this approach is that it’s low effort, so you don’t need to be a stock analyst or have hours to spend on research to build a portfolio. Motley Fool has an excellent track record, too. The Stock Advisor portfolio has outperformed the S&P 500 658% to 151% from 2002 to April 2024.
Importantly, Motley Fool’s focus is on long-term growth stocks. You’re expected to hold recommendations for at least five years, and service sometimes recommends stocks with very high P/E ratios. Investors are encouraged to make sure a stock picking service fits their personal methodology before following any picks.
Key Features
● Offers several market-beating stock recommendation services
● Stock Advisor includes two new stock picks per month
● Each recommendation comes with an easy-to-read research report
● Long-term investing with minimum horizon of five years
Pricing: $199 per year for Stock Advisor
New Member Special
Get Stock Advisor for Only $99 for Your First Year
(regularly $199)
Best for Expert Analysis – Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha is a self-directed research platform that has a lot of similarities to Zacks. Like Zacks, Seeking Alpha rates stocks on an A-F scale for valuation, growth, and momentum categories. The platform also gives platforms an overall buy/sell/hold rating, which is somewhat equivalent to Zacks’ 1-5 stock rankings.
Where Seeking Alpha differs from Zacks is that it offers a more focused list of top-rated stocks for you to research. Seeking Alpha’s Top Stocks list usually has 30-40 recommendations, compared to 100+ stocks in Zacks’ #1 Rank list. Seeking Alpha also has a more comprehensive stock screener, which makes it easier to find highly rated stocks that suit your investing strategy.
One of the best things about Seeking Alpha is that instead of getting a single research report on a stock, you get dozens of op-ed analysis articles written by Seeking Alpha contributors. This is helpful because you get multiple perspectives on a stock, including both bull and bear cases. So, you have a lot more information available when making an investment decision.
Key Features
- Factor ratings for valuation, growth, momentum, and more
- Peer comparison across a wide range of valuation metrics
- Top Stocks list and comprehensive stock screener
- Op-ed articles written by professional contributors
Pricing: $239 per year
Special Offer
Try Seeking Alpha Premium FREE for 7 Days
Best for Fund Research – Morningstar
Morningstar is one of the best research platforms available if you’re interested in adding ETFs and mutual funds to your portfolio. It offers much more details about funds than Zacks, including comparisons to similar funds and star ratings to help you find top funds across any investing category.
In addition, Morningstar offers portfolio analysis tools that are specifically designed for fund investors. We especially like the Portfolio X-Ray tool, which looks at the assets inside your funds to ensure your portfolio is truly diversified.
Morningstar can also be very useful for stock investors. You get access to research reports similar to those offered by Zacks as well as fair value analysis. Morningstar rates stocks on a 1-5 scale just like Zacks and offers a screener to help you find top picks. Whereas Zacks rates stocks based on a combination of value, growth, and momentum, Morningstar ratings are primarily based on valuation and industry moat.
Key Features
- In-depth ETF and mutual fund research
- Portfolio X-ray tool analyzes funds inside your portfolio
- Stock ratings based on value and moat
- Stock and fund research reports
Pricing: $249 per year
Special Offer
Get 7 Days of FREE Access to Morningstar Premium
Best for Basic Stock Analysis – Yahoo Finance
Yahoo Finance is a stock research tool that’s ideal if you just need basic financial information about a company. You can get balance sheets, historical price data, valuation statistics, and more, all at no cost. Yahoo Finance also offers helpful information about what portion of a company’s shares are held by institutions and corporate insiders.
Yahoo Finance includes a stock screener and enables you to build watchlists, but it doesn’t offer recommendations or ratings like Zacks. So, it’s best as a free platform for gathering information about companies you’re interested in or stocks that were recommended from another service.
Yahoo Finance does have a premium service, Yahoo Finance Plus, that offers additional research including Morningstar reports and fair value estimates. However, if you’re willing to pay for a research service, we’d recommend going straight to Morningstar for this information.
Key Features
- Free financial data
- Built-in stock screener
- Free market news
- Premium service offers Morningstar research reports
Pricing: Free; Plus from $250 per year
Best for In-depth Stock Research – Stock Rover
Stock Rover is an outstanding stock research platform that offers more detailed fundamental and financial analysis tools compared to Zacks. With Stock Rover, you get access to fair value analysis and 0-100 ratings for a stock’s value, growth, quality, and sentiment. Stock Rover also has hundreds of financial metrics, so you can dig much deeper into a company’s health than is possible with Zacks.
While there’s no top stocks list, you can easily use Stock Rover’s screener to find stocks with high scores across these categories. The screener is highly customizable, enabling you to develop a custom investment strategy and then find suitable stocks to buy.
Stock Rover also has strong portfolio analysis tools, making it a great choice for long-term investors. Correlation analysis enables you to check how diversified your portfolio really is, while a dividends forecast tool allows you to monitor your future income. Stock Rover also offers help with rebalancing your portfolio.
Notably, Stock Rover supports fund research along with stock research. It covers more than 4,000 ETFs and 40,000 mutual funds.
Key Features
- In-depth research including 700+ fundamental and financial metrics
- Fair value analysis and ratings for value, growth, quality, and sentiment
- Portfolio analysis and rebalancing tools
- Includes research on thousands of ETFs and mutual funds
Pricing: From $79.99 per year
Special Offer
Try Stock Rover for FREE
Which Zacks Alternative Is Right for You?
Which of the Zacks alternatives we covered is right for you depends on your approach to investing.
If you’re a self-directed investor who likes having lists of recommended stocks to explore, then a service like Seeking Alpha or Morningstar would be best. These platforms offer guidance on stocks that look promising, but they still offer enough tools so you can do your own research and decide what shares to buy.
More advanced investors may prefer a service like Stock Rover, which gives you more flexibility to find stocks using custom screens. To get the most out of Stock Rover, you’ll need to have a clearly defined strategy and feel comfortable pouring over detailed financial data.
If you want to reduce the time you spend researching stocks, a stock recommendation service like Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor is best. This service offers ready-to-buy stock picks, so it takes very little effort to build a portfolio. Motley Fool has an excellent track record, which is important when following someone else’s stock picks.
FAQs
What is the best Zacks alternative for long-term stock investors?
The best Zacks alternative for long-term investors is different depending on your goals. Self-directed investors will prefer Stock Rover or Morningstar. Investors who want stock recommendations will prefer Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor.
What is the best Zacks alternative for fund investors?
Morningstar is the best alternative to Zacks for investing in ETFs and mutual funds. Morningstar offers detailed research reports on funds and lists of top-rated funds for any market niche. This service also has an X-ray tool to analyze fund holdings within your portfolio.
How do other service’s stock ratings compare to Zacks’ ranking lists?
Zacks’ #1 rank list is similar to the Top Stocks list at Seeking Alpha or the 5-Star Stocks list at Morningstar. All of these lists highlight stocks that offer a good combination of value and growth, with the expectation that highly rated stocks will outperform the market over a one to five-year timeframe.
Should you use these alternatives over Zacks?
All of the Zacks alternatives we highlighted are excellent services for investors. Zacks may be better if you like the format of the #1 Rank list and its screening options suit your strategy. However, we think Seeking Alpha and Stock Rover offer more flexibility, while Morningstar is better for fund investing and Motley Fool is better for stock picks.
Conclusion: Zacks Alternatives
Zacks is a useful stock research platform and many investors rely on its #1 Rank list to find investment ideas. However, Zacks isn’t suitable for all investing strategies and it can feel limiting at times.
We recommend Seeking Alpha and Stock Rover as the best alternatives for expert analysis and in-depth research. Morningstar is a good alternative to Zacks for investors who want to buy funds alongside stocks. Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor service is a good choice if you prefer ready-to-buy stock picks. Yahoo Finance is a free alternative for basic stock research.
