If you want to succeed in the stock market or invest like Warren Buffett, you will need to have a reliable stock analysis tool by your side. While the best stock research tools out there cost money, you can still find free online stock research services.
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How Do You Research Stocks Before Buying?
The stock market is vast and offers plenty of opportunities, but not everything out there is right for you. One of the cornerstones of successful investing is knowing your financial goals and risk tolerance. Once you’re clear on what you want from investing, you will need to look for investments that suit your personal taste. This is where researching stocks comes in.
Researching stocks before you buy can help you make the right decisions to maximize your profit and reduce your investing risks. With the right stock research tool, you can construct a portfolio that is consistently profitable.
We have identified five free online stock research tools that you may like:
TipRanks
If you’re looking for institutional-grade stock research insights, TipRanks is a valuable resource. The platform levels the investing playing field for small investors by giving them access to the most powerful research tools, which are usually available only to hedge funds.
To begin with, the TipRank’ Smart Score tool identifies stocks with strong potential to outperform market averages. As a result, this unique tool, which has outperformed the S&P 500, directs you toward stocks that can drive profit in your portfolio.
Additionally, many people like to follow expert stock recommendations. These experts may be Wall Street analysts or financial bloggers. The problem is that following expert advice blindly can lead to terrible portfolio losses. Therefore, TipRanks rates analysts and bloggers according to their performance track records, so you can know who to trust.
Moreover, the platform provides investment ideas by showing which stocks the top-performing hedge funds, corporate insiders, and average investors are buying or selling. Additionally, TipRanks provides a broad array of fundamental and technical analysis metrics to assist you in identifying suitable stocks for your portfolio.
TipRanks also helps you stay up-to-date with the latest financial news and analyst actions such as stock upgrades and downgrades. You can set free email alerts or notifications on the stocks you like, so you will be updated every time a stock you like receives a new rating. Similarly, you can receive free email alerts every time an analyst you follow gives a new rating.
Another feature, the platform’s Smart Portfolio, helps you to manage and monitor your portfolio – you can view how your portfolio is performing or compare your portfolio returns to those of other investors.
You can use TipRanks’ stock research service for free. However, the free plan provides limited access to the research tools and insights. You will need to purchase a premium plan starting at about $30 a month to have full access to TipRanks’ stock research service.
Insider Monkey
For those who want to imitate the strategies of hedge fund managers, Insider Monkey is worth a try. The financial research website shares information on the best stock picks of successful hedge funds and corporate insiders.
Insider Monkey gives the average investor the chance to outperform the market by copying the stock selection strategies of expert investors, such as hedge fund managers. You can subscribe to email alerts to receive notifications every time an insider or hedge fund reports a purchase or sale of a stock on your watchlist.
While Insider Monkey offers some stock research materials for free, its best research resources require payments to access. To have a complete access to stock analysis articles published on the Insider Monkey website, you need to purchase the Premium Readership subscription, which includes three issues per year of Insider Monkey’s monthly newsletter, for $99 a year.
If you want to learn about the favorite stock picks of activist hedge funds, you can subscribe to Insider Monkey’s Monthly Activist newsletter for $499 a year. For insights on billionaire hedge fund managers’ investing thesis and market outlook, you can subscribe to Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Alpha quarterly newsletter for $499 a year.
GuruFocus
If you are focused on long-term investing, you may find GuruFocus a useful stock research resource. The platform provides resources designed to help you invest like great investors such as Warren Buffett.
GuruFocus helps you track the stock picks of top investors. It also provides insights on insider trading. Moreover, the platform publishes analysis articles on stock ideas and investing strategies, as well as monthly newsletters to help readers identify value investing opportunities. Additionally, GuruFocus provides stock screening tools, helping users to filter stocks on a broad range of parameters.
The GuruFocus stock research service is free to try for seven days. If you want to keep the service, GuruFocus Premium costs $499 a year.
Zacks Investment Research
Zacks offers a broad range of tools to help investors make informed decisions and discover investment opportunities that align with one’s personal interests. In addition to stocks, the platform also covers ETFs and other investment products.
When it comes to analyzing stocks, Zacks provides price charts, financial statements, and consensus earnings estimates and revisions. The platform also provides details about insider transactions, expert stock analysis and stock recommendations. It also gives access to financial news on stocks, the industry, and the global economy.
Zacks offers most of its stock research insights free of charge, but its most valuable insights are available at a fee. Zacks’ premium research services cost between $249 and $2,995 a year.
Morningstar
If you’re looking for another stock research tool, you could consider Morningstar. Primarily known as a fund investment research tool, Morningstar also helps with researching individual stocks and other investment products.
For stock research, Morningstar can help you find undervalued stocks of high-quality companies. If you’re interested in long-term investing rather than day trading, Morningstar can be ideal for you.
The platform focuses on providing fundamental analysis rather than technical insights. It offers stock analysis reports, market commentary, and investing news. Morningstar’s portfolio X-ray tool offers valuable insights to successful long-term investing. The tool analyzes your portfolio to give you a clear view of your holdings by asset type, asset allocation, and sector. That can help you build a more diversified portfolio to reduce your investing risks.
You can try Morningstar’s stock research service for free for limited number of days. The Morningstar premium service costs about $35 a month or $249 a year.
Conclusion – What Is the Best Free Stock Research Tool For You?
A free stock research tool may help you to gain a good understanding of stocks and to identify investments that could suit your interest. However, a premium investment research service may not only help you construct a more profitable portfolio, but also achieve consistent profits.
The stock research tools we’ve discussed here vary in the scope of the free services they offer and costs of their premium plans. When it comes to choosing the best stock research service, you should consider you needs and affordability of the service. You may want to try a few of these options to see what works best for you. TipRanks, which levels the playing field for individual investors, is definitely one of the best stock research services to try.
