Stock picking services like Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor and Seeking Alpha’s Alpha Picks can make it much easier to find outperforming stocks without spending hours on research. They’re a great way to build a new portfolio or to find new stocks to add to your existing portfolio.
Both Stock Advisor and Alpha Picks have strong track records, and both deliver two new stock picks every month. While they have a lot in common, there are also important differences in the types of stocks they recommend.
In our Motley Fool Stock Advisor vs. Seeking Alpha Alpha Picks comparison, we’ll help you decide which of these services is better for you.
About Stock Advisor and Alpha Picks
Stock Advisor is the flagship stock picking service from the Motley Fool. It was launched in 2002 and has more than 750,000 members today. Stock Advisor is best known for recommending long-term explosive growth stocks like Amazon, Netflix, and Tesla in the early days of each of these companies.
Alpha Picks is a much newer stock recommendation service from Seeking Alpha. It launched in 2022 and is targeted more towards active investors than long-term investors.
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Stock Advisor vs. Alpha Picks: Investing Style
Stock Advisor and Alpha Picks are most different in the way they approach investing.
Stock Advisor is designed for long-term growth investors. The service focuses on explosive growth stocks that have very high long-term potential. Stock Advisor intends for all picks to be held for at least five years, and some picks have been in the portfolio for 20 years.
Alpha Picks takes a more active approach to investing. The investment horizon for picks is around one year, although successful picks may be held for up to several years. Alpha Picks typically looks for momentum stocks that are outperforming peers in their sectors.
Neither service limits itself to investing in specific market sectors. In practice, though, Stock Advisor’s focus on growth stocks means its portfolio tends to be tech-heavy. The Alpha Picks portfolio has stocks in a wider range of market sectors since the service’s analysts look for different areas of the economy that are experiencing strong momentum.
Stock Advisor vs. Alpha Picks: Recommendation Format
Stock Advisor and Alpha Picks each offer two new stock picks per month, spaced about two weeks apart. All recommendations are made by human analysts, not algorithms.
The picks at each service are set up so that you can simply buy the recommended stock without worrying about entry prices. Neither Stock Advisor nor Alpha Picks offers take-profit targets or stop losses with their picks. It’s relatively rare to see underperforming stocks dropped from the Stock Advisor portfolio, while Alpha Picks is a little bit more willing to recommend selling stocks that didn’t live up to expectations within their first few months in the portfolio.
Recommendations at Stock Advisor and Alpha Picks come with short research reports. For Stock Advisor, the research reports focus on why a company is poised for growth, usually looking at intangibles like the quality of the leadership team or a company’s competitive moat. For Alpha Picks, the research reports lean more on fundamental data and pull in financial metrics from Seeking Alpha’s research platform.
Stock Advisor vs. Alpha Picks: Additional Tools
Stock Advisor and Alpha Picks both include tools to help you decide what stocks to buy in between new picks.
At Stock Advisor, you’ll get access to two lists. The Foundational Stocks list includes 10 growth stocks that Motley Fool analysts think every long-term investor should own. The Rankings list is updated monthly and highlights the 10 best stocks already in the portfolio for investors to double-down on.
At Alpha Picks, every stock in the portfolio is rated as a “Strong Buy,” “Buy,” or “Hold.” If you have extra cash to invest, you can consider any of the Strong Buy stocks as good options.
Stock Advisor vs. Alpha Picks: Performance
Since launching in 2002, Stock Advisor has an extremely impressive track record. The service has returned 655% as of March 2024 compared to 150% for the S&P 500.
Alpha Picks launched in 2022, and it’s delivered a return of 127% as of March 2024 compared to 35% for the S&P 500.
Clearly, both of these services have historically beaten the S&P 500. Stock Advisor’s longer track record is notable because the portfolio has gone through both the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Seeking Alpha portfolio hasn’t had to weather any major market disruptions yet.
Stock Advisor vs. Alpha Picks: Pricing
Stock Advisor costs $199 per year, while Alpha Picks costs $499 per year. Neither service offers a free trial, but Stock Advisor comes with a 30-day membership-fee-back guarantee.
Which Service Is Better?
Stock Advisor and Alpha Picks are both outstanding stock recommendation services. Both have beaten the market and both are very easy for time-strapped investors to follow.
If you have the money, it’s worth considering using both services. Stock Advisor can help you build a long-term growth portfolio, while Alpha Picks can help you make more active investments for short-term capital turnover. There’s not much overlap between the two services’ picks, so having access to both services also gives you a wider range of stocks to choose from.
If you have to choose one or the other, the choice may come down largely to how hands-off you want to be with your portfolio and how much you want to spend. Stock Advisor is relatively inexpensive and it lets you buy a stock and then forget about it for years. With Alpha Picks, you’ll need to be slightly more involved to keep up with sell alerts in the portfolio every few months.
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Alternatives to Stock Advisor and Alpha Picks
It’s worth noting that neither Stock Advisor nor Alpha Picks pays much attention to value investing. Both platforms routinely invest in stocks with sky-high P/E ratios following the theory that it’s worth buying expensive stocks if they have room to run.
If you’re more interested in value investing, you might consider an alternative stock picking service like Stanberry’s Investment Advisory. Another option is to use a value-focused research service like Zacks Premium or Old School Value. While these platforms require more DIY research, they also have lists of recommended stocks to help you get started.
Conclusion: Motley Fool Stock Advisor vs. Seeking Alpha Alpha Picks
Motley Fool Stock Advisor and Seeking Alpha Alpha Picks are both excellent stock picking services for investors who want help finding market-beating stocks. Stock Advisor focuses on growth stocks with a five-year or longer investment horizon, while Alpha Picks focuses on momentum stocks with a one-year horizon. Using both services together can be an effective way to build a more diversified growth and momentum portfolio.
For more details on these services, check out our Stock Advisor review and our Alpha Picks review.
