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So, is Simply Wall Street reliable?

Is it a useful stock research and analysis platform?

Can you actually use it to help you pick good stocks?

Are there better alternatives?

After trying out Simply Wall St as well as almost all the other stock research and analysis platforms out there, I will help you answer all the questions above and make a more informed decision.

How You Can Use Simply Wall Street

Simply Wall Street is a stock research and analysis platform that covers about 150,000 stocks worldwide.

Simply Wall Street Stock Analysis Reports

All the stock analysis reports are generated automatically in the same format, using data from company financials as well as analysts’ revenue estimates.

There are a total of 10 sections in the stock report:

• Executive Summary
• Share Price & News
• Valuation
• Future Growth
• Past Performance
• Financial Health
• Dividend
• Management
• Ownership
• Company Information

Personally, I think that only the “Valuation” and “Future Growth” sections might be of some value to you in helping you make an investment decision.

In all the other sections (e.g. “Share Price & News”, “Past Performance”, “Dividend”, “Ownership”, etc),  you can easily get the same information for free online.

So, let’s take a closer look at the “Valuation” section.

It uses discounted cash flow analysis to calculate the fair value.

If you are unfamiliar with discounted cash flow analysis method, it’s basically a company valuation method that is based on the premise that “the fair value of a company is the total value of its future free cash flow discounted to today’s prices.”

This method is commonly used by a lot of stock analysts as well as many other stock research and analysis platforms.

BUT, there are A LOT of assumptions in this method.

Why?

Because no one can predict with absolute certainty the exact free cash flow the company is going to generate every single year from today onward.

To estimate the fair value of a company, analysts make assumptions about the company’s future revenue as well as its growth rate.

As a result, no two analysts would arrive at the same fair value even though they use the same methodology.

For Simply Wall St, it takes stock analysts’ revenue and growth rate estimates and then plugs them into a mathematical formula.

Here’s the problem.

Some stocks are widely covered by many analysts, while others are only covered by a few analysts.

Let’s take “Microsoft” for example.

Microsoft is covered by 88 analysts.

Yet, only 34 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to generate the Simply Wall St report.

Initially, I thought Simply Wall St would take the average of all the 34 analysts’ estimates of free cash flow for the next 5 years because that would be a more appropriate way to get the data.

But, it seems that it uses 18 analysts’ free cash flow estimates for the first year.

Then, it uses 8 analysts’ (probably different analysts from above?) free cash flow estimates for the second year.

For the subsequent years, it uses even fewer analysts’ estimates (and probably different analysts too.)

So, it really makes me doubt the reliability of the “fair value” provided by Simply Wall Street.

So, can you still rely on this “fair value estimate” to make your investment decision?

Personally, I think you should NEVER use this data alone to determine whether or not a stock is a good buy.

Why?

It’s NOT the actual fair value of the stock.

In fact, let’s take a look at a few more fair value estimates of Microsoft stock that I found from other sources.

From Gurufocus, the Peter Lynch fair value estimate for Microsoft is $162.21, as of Aug 2021.

According to Morningstar, the estimated fair value is recently increased to $325 from $278 after its recent earnings release.

From Stock Rover, the estimated fair value is $298.53.

Now, what about Simply Wall St?

The estimated fair value provided by Simply Wall St is $383.15.

As you can see, the estimated fair value for the same stock varies widely across a few stock research and analysis platforms.

So, what I would recommend is that you could calculate the average of all the fair value estimates and then use that as one of your references in your investment decision-making.

Here’s another strategy that I personally use.

After you have decided on investing a certain amount of money in a stock, it’s wise to build a full position in this stock through multiple purchases instead of using all of your allocated capital to buy the full position at one time.

So, what do I mean by that?

Let’s say that you plan to invest $30,000 in Microsoft.

Instead of buying $30,000 worth of Microsoft stock at one time, you buy the stock in three equal installments at different price levels.

For example, you could buy $10,000 worth of Microsoft stock at $280/share, another $10,000 worth of Microsoft stock at $252/share, and the final $10,000 worth of Microsoft stock at $224/share.

By doing so, you could reduce your risk with a lower average cost price., especially considering that the current market rally is currently over-extended.

Now, let’s move on to the other two sections ” Financial Health” and “Future Growth” and see whether they are helpful.

For the “Future Growth” section, you will find analysts’ earnings and revenue growth as well as earnings per share forecasts presented in graphical format.

And for the “Financial Health” section, you will find assets vs liability for both short-term and long-term, debt to equity ratio as well as an oversimplified balance sheet in graphical format.

So, after going through everything, you can see that the main advantage of using Simply Wall St is that basic financial data and ratios are presented to you in an easy-to-read graphical format.

If you are a new investor, you might find this format very beginner friendly.

Also, Simply Wall St covers a lot of international stock markets.

So, that will be good for you if you are investing internationally.

However, what I don’t really like about Simply Wall St is that the financial information and data provided are just too basic and general for in-depth stock research and analysis. (For that, you might want to check out this stock research and analysis platform such as “Seeking Alpha Premium“.)

On top of that, I don’t feel that there is anything really unique or proprietary about Simply Wall St.

Yes, the financial information and data on Simply Wall St are much easier to read in graphs and tables.

But, I would prefer a more specific and in-depth stock analysis.

Why?

Because I cannot make a decision on whether or not I want to invest in the stock (and also at what price) after going through the stock analysis on Simply Wall St.

How Much Simply Wall Street Costs

There are three different pricing plans:

• Free
• Premium ($10/month)
• Unlimited ($20/month)

So, what is the main difference between these pricing plans?

The main difference is the limit on the number of company reports you can get access to every month as well as the number of portfolio stocks analyzed.

With the free plan, you can only have 5 company reports per month and 5 portfolio stocks analyzed.

For Premium Plan, you have up to 30 company reports per month and 30 portfolio stocks analyzed.

If you want unlimited data for all the stocks, then the Unlimited Plan gives you that.

Also, with both Premium Plan and Unlimited Plan, you get a stock screener as well.

Simply Wall Street Vs Seeking Alpha Premium

So, how does Simply Wall Street compare with Seeking Alpha Premium?

Both Seeking Alpha Premium and Simply Wall St are stock research and analysis platforms.

Seeking Alpha Premium has all the financial information and data (i.e. US stocks as well as international stocks) that you can find on Simply Wall St plus more 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:

1. SA Author Ratings ‒ ranging from Strong Buy to Strong Sell
2. Wall Street Ratings – consensus and price targets on the stock by Wall Street Analysts
3. 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 is 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 sell-side 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.

If you don’t want to create your own stock screens, there are also preset stock screens for you to choose from.

Lastly, the thing that I love the most about Seeking Alpha Premium is the in-depth stock analysis.

What is more, I find it especially useful to go through opposing camps of views on the same stock that I am doing research on.

Why?

Because it really helps me consider all the potential risks and future opportunities involved before making my decision.

Pricing-wise, Seeking Alpha provides three types of pricing plans:

• Basic: Free
• Seeking Alpha Premium: $239/year  Now $9.90 per month (first year only)
• Seeking Alpha Pro: 499 per year (mostly for hedge fund managers)

So, Simply Wall St Unlimited is similarly priced to Seeking Alpha Premium.

But, you can get so much more value by subscribing to Seeking Alpha Premium.

It’s really a no-brainer comparison.

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Simply Wall Street Vs Morningstar

There are a few key differences between Simply Wall Street and Morningstar.

First of all, 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.

For each stock, you will also get the stock research report that makes the case for or against investing in it.

On top of that, I also like its “Bulls Say Bears Say” where you can get different perspectives from both sides of the camp.

Lastly, Morningstar not only covers stocks, but also covers bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs while Simply Wall St only covers stocks.

In terms of pricing, Morningstar Premium memberships are available at the following term lengths and prices:

• $29.95 for monthly
• $199 for annual plan (i.e. $16.58/month)
• $349 for two-year plan (i.e. $14.54/month)
• $449 for three-year plan (i.e $12.47/month)

If you go for the annual plan or above, it is definitely much cheaper than Simply Wall St’s Unlimited Plan.

So, I would recommend Morningstar Premium if you are a long-term value investor.

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Simply Wall Street Vs Motley Fool Stock Advisor

Now, let’s compare Simply Wall St with Motley Fool Stock Advisor.

The main difference between Simply Wall St and Motley Fool Stock Advisor is that Motley Fool Stock Advisor makes stock recommendations that have long-term growth potential.

What I really like about Motley Fool Stock Advisor is that it will give you a deep dive into the stocks, so you can understand how they actually analyze the company and why they recommend it after considering everything including potential risks.

They also don’t just stop at that.

Whenever there is significant price movement on the stocks or major news on the stocks, they will help you understand the impact these events have on the stocks.

If it is time to sell, you will also receive real-time notifications on that.

On the other hand, Simply Wall St is a stock research platform where you can get basic financial data and information in an easy-to-read format.

Now, let’s take a look at Motley Fool Stock Advisor’s past performance.

Below is the performance comparison between Motley Fool Stock Advisor and S&P 500 between 2002 and 2nd June 2022.

As of 2nd June 2022, average Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations have returned over 357% since inception while S&P 500 has returned 123%.

But, what about its individual stock picks?

This metric is important because I might not be buying every single stock recommendation made by Stock Advisor.

Below is a table that shows the performance of individual stock picks over the years.

As of May 2022, Motley Fool Stock Advisor has had 171 stock recommendations with 100%+returns.

Here are just some of their best-performing stock picks over the years:

• 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 don’t buy every single stock recommendation by Motley Fool Stock Advisor.

I mainly used Motley Fool Stock Advisor to get stock ideas because they have found quite a number of good investment ideas over the years.

From there, I will read their research team’s analysis and then also do my own independent research before I decide whether or not I want to invest in the stock.

Will the Motley Fool Stock Advisor always be right about their stock recommendations?

No, because no one can be right about their stock picks 100% of the time.

Let me sidetrack a bit here.

If any stock picking service tells you that they have a close to 100% success rate on their stock picks and can guarantee you high investment returns, you should definitely stay away.

Even Warren Buffet has loss-making stocks in his portfolio, but he still achieves above-average returns because a few big gainers in the portfolio can make up for the under-performers.

What I like about the Motley Fool Stock Advisor is that they are very open and transparent about their bad investments.

As a member, I can see the performance of ALL its past and current stock recommendations (even for closed positions).

For some other stock-picking services that I’ve tried, they don’t publish the performance of all their past and current stock recommendations, so it’s not easy for you to find out their true track record.

For example, the year 2022 has not been good for high-growth stocks because of rising interest rates and high inflation.

So, you can see a lot of Motley Fool Stock Advisor’s stock recommendations are not doing very well.

The truth is that other stock-picking services are not doing well either because of the stock market crash.

Do I still think it’s worth subscribing to the Motley Fool Stock Advisor?

My answer is yes.

The stock market goes up and down all the time.

Every few years, there is a bear market.

According to Peter Lynch who is a legendary fund manager, far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate correction than lost in corrections themselves.

In fact, I think the bear market is the BEST time to start investing in the stock market.

Why?

During a bear market, it’s more likely to find great businesses selling at very cheap prices because people are just selling out of fear when the business is still fundamentally sound.

A market crash is a time when huge wealth transfers from irrational and emotional investors to patient and rational investors.

So, if you are thinking of getting into stock investing, I highly recommend the Motley Fool Stock Advisor because I think there are a lot of well-researched stock recommendations with long-term growth potential.

So, how much does Motley Fool Stock Advisor cost?

Usually, its annual subscription is $199.

Right now, there’s a special limited-time $79 offer* for new members for the first year when you click the link here to try it out for 30 days with a Membership-Fee-Back Guarantee. (*Billed annually. Introductory price for the first year for new members only. First-year bills at $79 and renews at $199)

So, for $79 a year- that’s just $1.60 a week – you can gain unlimited access to their library of expert stock recommendations which are carefully selected to help you grow your wealth.

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Simply Wall Street Vs Stock Rover

Both Simply Wall Street and Stock Rover are stock research and analysis platform.

So, what is the key difference between these two platforms?

The key difference is that Stock Rover is a much more robust and powerful platform for fundamental stock analysis than Simply Wall Street.

So, what does that mean?

Stock Rover offers a wide range of financial data and information such as earnings, growth, profitability, financial strength, capital efficiency, price performance, momentum, dividends, analyst ratings, and stock ratings.

Basically, you have ALL the financial and fundamental data on any US & Canada Stocks in one place.

On top of that, Stock Rover also provides “Value Score” and “Quality Score” as well as Morningstar Grades for Financial Health, Profitability, and Growth to help you save a lot of time in evaluating stocks.

By the way, all the data are presented to you in easy-to-understand tables as well as graphs, so you don’t get overwhelmed by data.

Although it might not be as visually vibrant as Simply Wall Street, it offers much more substance to aid your investment decision.

Furthermore, Stock Rover makes it very easy for you to find investment ideas with its advanced fundamental stock screener.

This stock screener is by far one of the best fundamental stock screeners in the market with about 600 financial metrics for you to choose from and find the stock that matches your investment criteria.

Stock Rover also has quite a large number of built-in stock screeners based on popular investment strategies.

Below is just a few examples of its built-in stock screeners:

• Buffetology Inspired
• Dividend Growth
• Large Cap Value
• Fair Value
• Long Term Growth
• Strong Buys
• Safe Performers
• Small Cap Growth

When it comes to the stock screener, I could say that Stock Rover easily beat Simply Wall Street hands down.

Lastly, Stock Rover provides you with free portfolio management and analytics by connecting your brokerage accounts directly to your Stock Rover account.

Currently, Stock Rover supports more than 1000+ brokerages.

As of my writing today, Stock Rover has more than $10,000,000,000 (i.e. 10 Billion) of funds in customer-linked brokerage portfolio accounts.

In terms of pricing, Stock Rover has both free and paid plans.

For its paid plans, there are three tiers:

• Essentials at $7.99/month (or  $6.67/month if billed annually)
• Premium at $17.99/month (or  $15.00/month if billed annually)
• Premium Plus at $27.99/month (or $23.33/month if billed annually)

As you can see, Stock Rover’s most expensive plan, Premium Plus, is very competitively priced.

If you are looking for a good fundamental stock research and analysis platform for US and Canadian stocks, I highly recommend Stock Rover because it offers so much more value for almost the same price.

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