DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS,MEANING That I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU. PLEASE READ FULL DISCLOSURE HERE
If you are new to stock investing, what are the best websites for stock research and analysis?
How do you actually use these websites for stock research and analysis?
Most importantly, can they really help you make better investment decisions?
Seeking Alpha Premium (Highly Recommended)
Seeking Alpha Premium has all the financial information and data (i.e. US stocks as well as international stocks) to help you research and analyze stocks.
Also, its proprietary Author Rating and Quant Rating can help you filter through thousands of stocks easily and also help you identify the latest investment opportunity.
For each stock, you can find the latest Seeking Alpha Premium ratings on the stock:
- SA Author Ratings ‒ ranging from Strong Buy to Strong Sell
- Wall Street Ratings – consensus and price targets on the stock by Wall Street Analysts
- Quant Ratings ‒ based on over 100 metrics, updated daily
The most interesting of all is its proprietary Quant rating.
It was developed by CressCap, quantitative analytics and data platform that was acquired by Seeking Alpha.
So, what exactly is Quant Rating, and also how does it really work?
Quant rating is derived by comparing over 100 metrics for the stock to the same metrics for the other stocks in its sector.
These metrics include the company’s financial data, stock price performance, and analysts’ estimates of future revenue and earnings. There are five types of Quant ratings:
- Strong Sell (i.e. a score of 1)
- Sell (i.e. a score of 2)
- Hold (i.e. a score of 3)
- Buy (i.e. a score of 4)
- Strong Buy (i.e. a score of 5)
The advantage of this method is that you can use Quant Rating to find the best performer of any particular industry or sector.
Here’s one of the best ways to make use of Seeking Alpha ratings.
Every day, Seeking Alpha publishes a list of stocks that earn top ratings from Seeking Alpha authors, Wall Street analysts, and its proprietary Quant System.
Personally, I think that just this list of Top-Rated Stocks is like a gold mine that could potentially help you increase your investment returns significantly.
Below is the performance comparison between Seeking Alpha’s Strong Buy Recommendations vs S&P 500. As you can see, it outperformed S&P 500 by a large margin.
Seeking Alpha also provides you with a stock screener that you can use to find investment ideas in the stock market. 
You can filter stocks with Buy/Hold/Sell Quant ratings, author recommendations, or analysts’ ratings.
You can also screen stocks from a range of financial metrics including valuation, momentum, and profitability.
Lastly, you can also create your screener from scratch or use one of Seeking Alpha’s preset screeners.
For Seeking Alpha, there are three types of pricing plans:
- Basic: Free
- Seeking Alpha Premium:
$239/year$189/year - Seeking Alpha Pro: $2400/ year (mostly for hedge fund managers)
Right now, there is a free 7-day trial for you to test drive it and see if it works for you. If you decide to get it, there is a special $50 discount for you by using this link.
With the basic free version, you can only get very limited access to Seeking Alpha stock in-depth news and analysis.
You also won’t get access to Seeking Alpha Author Rating and Quant Rating, Top-rated stocks, and all the premium stock analyses.
So, is it worth paying for Seeking Alpha Premium?
$189/year works out to be about $15.75/month (i.e. $0.53/day).
A cup of Starbucks coffee costs about $2.75.
Personally, I have been using Seeking Alpha Premium for my own stock research and analysis.
[Limited Time Only] Claim Your $50 OFF Seeking Alpha Premium & Try It For 7 Days Free
Stock Rover (Best Website For Stock Fundamental Analysis)
Stock Rover is a website that is specifically designed and built for stock fundamental analysis.
Personally, I am a Stock Rover Premium Plus user, so I can tell you my first-hand experience of using it for my stock research.
Inside Stock Rover, there are many useful tools, but below are the three most powerful research tools of all:
- Stock Screener
- Dynamic Tables For Direct Stock Comparison
- Research Report
First, let’s talk about Stock Rover Screener.
Stock Rover provides over 650 metrics.
These metrics cover a wide range of areas such as earnings, growth, profitability, financial strength, analyst ratings, and stock ratings.
Moreover, it includes advanced metrics such as the Fair Value, Margin of Safety, and Piotroski F-Score.
The best part is that you can mix and match to create your customized stock screener.
So far, Stock Rover is probably the ONLY stock research and analysis website that provides the most comprehensive financial and fundamental information on US & Canadian stocks in one place.
Next, it’s the dynamic and easy-to-use “Table” that you can use for side-by-side stock comparison and evaluation.
The Table is a very powerful comparison tool that can sort, filter, color rows, pulls up-to-date financials and pricing data, and let you dynamically swap out datasets with just a click.
So, there is no need for you to learn all the different Excel functions to do stock comparison analysis by yourself!
My third favorite research tool is Stock Rover’s research reports.
Unlike the free research reports you get from your brokers, Stock Rover‘s research reports are updated in real-time, so all the financial data are up-to-date.
Also, you get everything you need to know(e.g. valuations, profitability, growth, peer analysis, etc), about the stock to determine if it is a fundamentally strong company to invest in.
Try Out Stock Rover Risk-Free For 14 Days Now (No Credit Card Required)
Morningstar
Morningstar provides proprietary stock ratings, valuations, and research reports.
Also, Morningstar is specifically focused on helping you find good-quality stocks for long-term appreciation.
If you are a value investor, you might find Morningstar very helpful because it helps you identify all the good companies and also all the companies that are currently undervalued.
On top of that, you will get access to its analyst’s research reports. Below are just an example of what you would get as a Morningstar Premium subscriber.
5-Star Stocks
This is a list of stocks that are rated 5 stars.
To get rated 5 stars, the stock must be trading meaningfully below the estimated fair value that is calculated by Morningstar’s analysts.
To help you understand better its rating system, a 3-star rating means the stock is trading near the estimated fair value while a 1- and 2-star rating means the stocks are trading meaningfully above the estimated fair value.
Wide-Moat Stocks
You will also get access to its list of wide-moat stocks.
So, what is considered “wide-moat stocks”?
Only companies that have competitive advantages over their competitors will fall under this category.
What Is Economic Moat?
Economic moat refers to a business’s ability to have a sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors.
So, it will enjoy higher profits over its competitors in the long term.
A typical example of a competitive advantage is a low-cost advantage.
Due to its size and retailer strength, Walmart can undercut most of its competitors by offering a wide selection and low prices.
Companies can develop a competitive advantage through product/service differentiation as well.
This can happen only when the company has a value and unique offering that its customers want and cannot get from somewhere else.
For example, Rolex differentiates itself by having a value brand. And Amazon Prime uses speed as its competitive advantage.
Inside “Morningstar Premium“, you will see a rating on the economic moat of all the stocks it covers:
- Wide Moat (highest)
- Narrow Moat
- None (lowest)
So, companies with the highest moat rating have the most sustainable competitive advantages, thus the greatest potential for future price appreciation.
You can give Morningstar Premium a try for free for 7 days!
Also, you can take $50 OFF Morningstar Premium if you decide it’s a good fit for you.
Try Morningstar Premium For 7 Days Free
TradingView (Best For Stock Technical Analysis)
TradingView is my No.1 choice when it comes to doing technical analysis on stocks.
Here’s why. It’s very user-friendly, and the design is very intuitive and visually pleasing too.
Unlike some stock charting software that has a steep learning curve, you will find TradingView very easy to use even if you are just a beginner stock investor or trader.
Also, for TradingView, it covers almost ALL the international stock markets.
Whether you are trading the US stock market, the HK stock market, or the Indian stock market, you can simply input the stock symbol to retrieve the stock charts and all the other relevant stock information.
Now, how do you use TradingView for technical analysis?
First of all, its charting tool is probably one of the best in the market.
Here’s why.
It provides stock price charts in timeframes as low as 1 second.
In terms of chart types, you can find all the popular chart types such as Bar, Candlestick, and Heikin Ashi as well as little-known chart types such as Renko and Kagi.
When it comes to technical analysis, the most commonly used tools are drawing tools and technical indicators.
TradingView provides ALL the drawing tools you would possibly need:
- Trendline tools
- Gann and Fibonacci tools
- XABCD pattern
- Prediction and measurement tools
When you are doing technical analysis, you probably use technical indicators, too.
TradingView has a wide range of technical indicators that you can use (i.e. 100+ built-in indicators for stock market analysis and 5,000+ custom-built indicators created by its talented trading community).
If that is not enough, you can create your own indicators and run them on its servers using TradingView’s very own scripting language called Pine Script.
Here comes the super cool part about TradingView. Imagine that you get real-time alerts for your favorite trade setups without having to stare at the charts and monitor the stock market all the time.
TradingView makes it possible by allowing you to create real-time alerts via email or SMS or pop-up whenever a pre-defined technical condition or a set of pre-defined technical conditions are met.
Lastly, analyzing the price chart of the stock might not be enough.
Personally, I also like to compare the stock against the stock market index or its competitor from the same industry on the same chart.
TradingView makes it very easy to do that.
On top of that, you can even add fundamental metrics to the stock chart to help you analyze the stocks from a fundamental point of view.
Now, does it cost you any money to use TradingView?
The answer is no.
It has a FREE plan which allows you to use most of its powerful charting tools.
By the way, TradingView has both a mobile app version as well as a web-based version, so you can easily access it on the go.
Try TradingView For FREE
TrendSpider (Best For Automatic Stock Technical Analysis)
TrendSpider is an automatic technical analysis trading software built by traders for traders.
Its unique set of trading tools can help you find good trade setups faster.
Now, let’s take a look at each one of its powerful tools and how you can use it to help you trade better.
Market Scanner
Its market scanner can automatically scan the market for the best trading opportunities based on your pre-defined technical conditions.
The best part is that you can mix and match any technical conditions using any indicators or combination of indicators together in one scan with no programming knowledge required. (it’s all visual)
How cool is that!
If you are like me and prefer to do multiple timeframe analyses, you are going to love this.
TrendSpider’s Market Scanner can search across any timeframe, from 1-minute to 1-month, and can even combine multiple timeframes together in a single scan.
This is one of the most unique features of TrendSpider.
Now, can you do multiple scans at the same time?
Yes, TrendSpider can do that for you. Once you have created your favorite scanners, you can use them at the same time to find good trading opportunities.
TrendSpider can even alert you if a particular stock in one scan appears in another scan — a great trading opportunity.
If you don’t have any scanners in mind yet, it’s okay too.
There are 20 pre-built scans to help you get started quickly.
Lastly, you can turn your scanner into a dynamic watchlist that is automatically refreshed and kept up-to-date.
With Market Scanner, you’ll never miss out on your ideal trading setup again.
Smart Charts
So, what are Smart Charts?
And how can it help with your trading?
First, let’s just pause and picture this for a short while.
What if you open a chart and all the trendlines and support & resistance levels have been drawn for you?
What about automatic Fibonacci retracement levels?
Or how does automatic breakout detection or automatic candlestick pattern recognition sound to you?
With TrendSpider’s built-in automated chart analysis algorithms, you can have all these automated for you.
So, no more squinting at charts trying to identify meaningful patterns or trying to re-drawing trendlines over and over.
Also, it allows you to spot hard-to-find patterns and trends that you might otherwise miss.
With Smart Charts, you can not only reduce mistakes and eliminate guesswork but also save a lot of time.
And this is not all.
You also get real-time market data and 20+ years of historical data. (No extra charge for data)
If you are a heavy user of technical indicators, there are hundreds of indicators and studies included in Smart Charts.
On top of that, you also get access to its powerful, proprietary visualizations such as heatmaps, Raindrop Charts, and anchored indicators.
Lastly, you can perform multiple timeframe analyses on a single chart.
This allows you to see trends that other traders will almost certainly miss without pulling up separate charts and manually comparing them.
The best part is that there is no software to download or install.
It’s 100% web-based.
If you are a serious technical trader, then you should definitely try out TrendSpider‘s Automated Technical Analysis Technology which not only helps you save tons of time but also helps make sure you never miss any of your trade setups.
Start Your TrendSpider’s 7-day FREE Trial
Motley Fool Stock Advisor
If you are looking for a stock research and analysis website for stock recommendations and advice, then I highly recommend Motley Fool Stock Advisor.
Personally, I have been subscribing to Motley Fool Stock Advisor for a long time.
So, why do I want to pay for stock recommendations when there is so much free information online?
Here are a few reasons.
First, I am investing my hard-earned money.
When it comes to investing, there are always risks.
Now, do you feel comfortable risking your money just based on some free stock advice from a person with no credentials and no proven track record?
Probably not. Secondly, no one can possibly scan the entire stock market for good investment opportunities because you simply don’t have the time. (by the way, there are close to 4,000 stocks listed on US stock exchanges alone)
Also, there are always other people who have more knowledge and experience in a particular industry than you, so you would probably miss some great stock ideas that are hard to discover on your own.
Lastly, I think the value I’ve gotten is more than worth the small investment that I made in Motley Fool Stock Advisor.
Now, let’s take a look at the performance of Motley Fool’s stock recommendations.
Below is the performance comparison between Motley Fool Stock Advisor and S&P 500 between 2002 and 9th March 2023.
As of 9th March 2023, average Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations have returned over 386% since inception while S&P 500 has returned 115%.
In short, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor has outperformed the market 3 to 1.
But, what about its individual stock picks?
This metric is important because I might not be buying every single stock recommendation made by the Motley Fool Stock Advisor.
Below is a table that shows the performance of individual stock picks over the years.
As of 7th Dec 2022, Motley Fool Stock Advisor has had 164 stock recommendations with 100%+returns.
Below are just some of their best-performing stock picks:
- Amazon: it’s up 19,806%*
- Netflix: it’s up 23,901%*
- Walt Disney: it’s up 632%*
- NVIDIA: it’s up 16,423%*
- Shopify: it is up 4,107%*
- United Health Group: it is up 2,338 %*
[*Returns as of 31st Dec 2021. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Individual investment results may vary. All investing involves risk of loss.]
Personally, I’ve been using “Motley Fool Stock Advisor” for years to get stock ideas.
With “Motley Fool Stock Advisor“, you get access to an experienced team of investment professionals and leverage their expertise and time to help you achieve better results with your investment.
Personally, I’ve gotten quite a lot of profitable stock ideas that I would have otherwise missed out on.
Leave a Reply