12 Best Stock Picking Services, Alerts & Advisors [2023]

Investors want to see their portfolio value grow with buy-and-hold or trading strategies. But how to find the right investment strategy and best stocks? Subscribing to the best stock picking services can boost portfolio performance in the long term, and even short-term traders can beat the market with the right investment advisors and subscriptions.

This list highlights the best stock picking services with a proven track record and market-beating returns. From individual stock picks to quant-based investment advice.

Transparency: We may get compensated when you click on links in this article.

What Is a Stock Picking Service?

A stock picking service recommends specific stocks to their subscribers and clients. Some stock pickers have thousands of followers, and investors can make decent returns following their advice. Buy-and-hold investors use a stock advisor with low trade frequency, while day traders often prefer live trading.

What Makes a Good Stock Picking Service or Stock Advisor?

The challenge is to find a stock picking service that is transparent regarding the entry and exit prices, and investors and traders need to be able to copy those trades to archive similar returns. I found over 30 vendors in this sector, but only ten services made it to this top list.

You know how it is. If something sounds too good, the probability of something being wrong increases. Without a doubt, there are many great investors and traders out there. They may make considerable money by investing in stocks and growing their portfolio constantly in the long run.

However, even institutional investors have to expect market downturns, and a portfolio’s performance will always have ups and down.

All-in-all, for subscribers to such services, it is essential to archive similar results as those lined out by the vendor. Therefore it is crucial to focus on the following key aspects:

Proven Track Record

Excellent stock picking services offer subscribers access to the most recent stock picks or even the entire history with all details about trade entries and exits. A stock advisor has to be transparent, and it should be crystal clear how the service works, how the tradings signals are used, and how a similar performance can be archived by following their signals. It is also important that the performance is steady with proven long-term success.

Similar Results

It is great to see when a stock rallies, but it is better if you’re on the train once it leaves the railroad station. Therefore, it is crucial for an investor that the stock picks can be to a portfolio for the same price or nearly the same price as the service. Investors are well-advised not to follow an investment advisory service and do their research blindly. Stock trades on individual stocks for the own portfolio have their benefits, but ETFs and mutual funds with low cost ratios can be a clever alternative.

Low Cost

An investor wants to make money in the financial markets, and the lower the costs associated with the investment process, the higher the overall returns. Stocks can be traded with zero commissions these days. That’s a meaningful benefit for investors and traders. The fixed monthly costs should also be held as low as possible, independently from the trading style. An investor may receive an alert that boosts the stock significantly. But in the end, only the net profit counts.

Educational Aspects

The stock market is a world of income opportunities. Choosing the right stocks with human advice or using a stock screener tool benefits the investor. But educational aspects provide additional benefits, and you can become your stock advisor with suitable educational material. Stock advisor services provide helpful investment research and fundamental analysis to find undervalued stocks. Penny stock day traders most frequently use technical analysis to trade penny stocks.

Common Sense

When something looks too good, then it often is. Stock trading is challenging. Otherwise, other financial products like mutual funds would perform much better. Day traders often use lower-priced stocks, but trading penny stocks are typically high risk. So, the more conservative a stock pickers trading strategy is, the lower the potential performance. A high-risk penny stock trading advice might pay out here and there, but the higher potential income also comes with higher potential losses. Professional financial advice should suit an investor’s investment mindset.

Best Stock Picking Services

• The Motley Fool Stock Advisor – Best Stock Advisor for Long-Term Investments
• Bullseye Trades – Best Weekly Stock Picks for Options Traders
• Zacks Premium – Best Stock Ranking System for Data-Driven Investors
• The Oxford Communiqué – Best Monthly Newsletter
• The Oxford Income Letter – Best for Dividend Stock Investing
• Seeking Alpha Premium – Best Quant-Based Stock Picks for Investors
• Trade Ideas A.I. – Best Day Trading Alert Service and A.I. Scanner Technology
• Bear Bull Traders – Best for Large-Cap Day Traders
• Warrior Trading – Best Advice for Small-Cap Day Traders
• Mindful Trader – Best Daily Stock Picks for Swing Traders
• The Motley Fool Rule Breakers – Best for Investing in Growth Stocks
• The Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks – Best New Stock Picking Service for Investors

1. The Motley Fool Stock Advisor – Best Stock Advisor for Long-Term Investments

Tom Gardner and David Gardner are the co-founders of The Motley Fool. The company has been successful for over ten years and continuously provides subscribers with some of the best performing investment newsletters and stock picking services. The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is a be-weekly published investment newsletter with specific buy recommendations for U.S.-listed stocks.

Stock Advisor members receive a stock pick in the first and third week of a month. With two trades per month, portfolio management is easy to handle for long-term investors. In addition, day traders may use the trade alerts to make some money intraday by day trading the stock. Still, the main idea of subscribing to the Motley Fool Stock Advisor is to learn how to choose stocks and duplicate their strategy for exceptional returns once you start trading the stock market independently.

Subscribers gain access to a history of recommendations made in the past. This Stock Advisor trade database is highly valuable. With some time invested, traders can evaluate the strategy, check the chart history, and even the market reaction followed by the trade alerts. Those identified patterns may allow investors to profit even better next time.

Subscribers have unlimited access to the Motley Fool Stock Advisor combined with a 100% membership refund period of 30 days.

Pros

• Highly transparent service used by over 1 million investors
• Convincing track record since inception in 2002
• 30-day membership fee-back guarantee and starter stocks

Cons

• Only two stock picks per month

Costs

• The Motley Fool Stock Advisor membership costs $199 per year

Best Offer

• Introductory Offer for New Members: $79 for the first year.

See Also: Motley Fool Review (with user, platform and performance insights.)

2. Bullseye Trades – Best Weekly Stock Picks for Options Traders

Stock recommendations are not for everyone. However, when done right, options strategies can beat the market. An investor would have made 10% per year on average by investing in indices during the past 40 years. Trading stocks and picking stocks with stock screening tools can boost the investment strategy by choosing stocks that outperform the market average. But not every investor has the capital to invest thousands of dollars in stocks. Options allow more active investors to invest less money for a higher portfolio return.

Bullseye Trades is a weekly newsletter issued by Jeff Bishop, co-founder of Raging Bull. He combines educational resources of options trading with weekly trade alerts. Every Monday morning, subscribers get a new trade alert with a detailed outline of company insights and the reason for the trade. In addition, Jeff provides options contract details, profit targets and stop loss price levels. Furthermore, Jeff publishes a new weekly recap video about the trade and how it worked.

The member dashboard grants access to the entire archive of previous newsletters and recommendations and the options trading course with 20 tutorials and video lessons.

Pros

• Weekly trading ideas for options traders
• Options trading course included

Cons

• No overall performance statistics since inception provided

Costs

• A subscription to Bullseye Trades costs $399 per year.

Best Offer

• New subscribers get 52% Off and join Bullseye Trades for $47 per quarter.

More Insights: Bullseye Trades Review

3. Zacks Premium – Best Stock Ranking System for Data-Driven Investors

Zacks Premium provides investors with investment and analysis tools, plus the complete Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buy list that offers the highest potential over the next 1-3 months. From January 1, 1988, to February 6, 2023, these stocks have more than doubled the S&P 500’s +10.7%, with an average return of +24.5% per year.

The Zacks Rank list is actively managed and updated on business days. Each stock is scored with a proprietary rating system, and investors can sort and filter the list by sector, industry, price, date added, value score, market cap, and more. Also, news, a snapshot, and interactive charts are available for all stocks.

Zacks Premium is best for investors who want to save time on fundamental research while still having the flexibility to choose stocks from the Zacks #1 Rank List.

In addition, subscribers can use various investment tools like the industry rank list, research reports, and the focus list. Besides, different premium stock screens are available:

• Zacks #1 Rank Growth Stocks
• EPS Growth, Revisions and Positive Surprises
• Momentum, Value, Growth, Income screeners, and more.

Those screeners help investors select stocks that best fit their investment style. At the same time, they offer extensive analysis of company fundamentals by Zacks research that has substantially outperformed the market.

Pros

• An average return of +24.5% per year since inception
• Stock screener access included
• Zacks Premium 30 day free trial available

Cons

• No specific stock recommendations

Costs

• Zacks Premium costs $249 per year. A 30-day free trial is available.

Best Offer

• Zacks Premium 30-day Free Trial

4. The Oxford Communiqué – Best Monthly Newsletter

The Oxford Club is the publisher of The Oxford Communiqué and one of the longest-running financial newsletters in the United States, with over 157,000 members in 130 countries. Alexander Green is the club’s chief investment strategist and posts new stock picks every third week of the month. Each newsletter consists of two parts, the latest portfolio adjustments and a building wealth section.

In addition, subscribers receive a weekly portfolio update with insights about the portfolio’s key positions. The member dashboard has a good structure and includes a getting started section, the latest and previously released stock picks, four different model portfolios, various videos and more.

Pros

• The newsletter combines stock picks with personal finance and wealth-building aspects
• One of the longest-existing investment newsletters in the U.S.
• 60-day full refund guarantee included

Cons

• Limited information about the exact specifics of the service on their website

Costs

• The retail price of The Oxford Communiqué is $249 per year.

Best Offer

• New subscribers can start The Oxford Communique premium subscription with this offer for $99 (60% Off)

5. The Oxford Income Letter – Best for Dividend Stock Investing

The Chief Income Strategist of The Oxford Club, Marc Lichtenfeld, writes the popular Oxford Income Letter, which focuses on the power of dividends, and shares his ideas at the beginning of each month with subscribers. In addition, he shares important news related to the model portfolio positions in a weekly email.

Marc is also the author of the book Get Rich with Dividends: A Proven System for Earning Double-Digit Returns, with over 500 ratings on Amazon. With his Income Letter, Marc focuses on top dividend stocks to archive an 8% yield and to utilize the power of compounding. This type of stock picking is a more conservative way of investing, and in the turbulent times that we are in right now, a consistent 8% return based on dividend income has its benefits.

Many famous investors see similar benefits of dividends. For example, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway portfolio mainly consists of dividend-paying stocks. Peter Lynch said, “The big reason that stock prices go up is that companies continue to raise their dividends,” and John D. Rockefeller said, “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends coming in.”

Pros

• Marc Lichtenfeld has high expertise in dividend-focused investment and worked as a senior analyst, fund manager and trader
• The subscription includes a free copy of Marc’s Get Rich with Dividends book
• 12-month money-back guarantee

Cons

• Exact performance graphs of the dividend portfolios are not freely available

Costs

• The subscription to The Oxford Income Letter has a retail price of $249 per year.

Best Offer

• New subscribers can sign up for $79 in the first year with this offer (68% Off). (includes the digital subscription to The Oxford Income Letter, a free hardcover copy of Get Rich with Dividends, and more).

6. Alpha Picks by Seeking Alpha – Best Quant-Based Stock Picks for Investors

Alpha Picks is a quant-based stock picking service issued by one of the popular investment sites – seekingalpha.com. Based on Similarweb estimates, over 26 million visitors use Seeking Alpha for stock news, research, analysis and stock market updates.

A couple of years ago, Seeking Alpha introduced Quant Ratings for an unemotional and objective evaluation of every stock based on extensive data, such as company financials. The quant system rates each stock (strong buy, buy, hold, sell or strong sell) along with a score based on a company’s value, growth, momentum, EPS revisions and profitability. The quant ratings became quickly popular amongst Seeking Alpha Premium subscribers.

Now, Seeking Alpha issues an investment newsletter called Alpha Picks, which uses the algorithmic power of the quant system and provides subscribers with two specific stock picks every month for a reasonable annual price. The stock newsletter is relatively new, so we don’t know about the actual performance, but the backtest indicates a significant outperformance compared to the S&P 500. In the backtest period, the S&P500 grew +290% since 2010, while the Alpha Picks algorithms archived a return of +470%.

Every investment newsletter comes with a stock pick, an insightful company description, a detailed reason for the trade and data-driven insights. Seeking Alpha also continues to inform subscribers about updates on previous recommendations.

Pros

• Objective and unemotional buy recommendations based on Quant algorithms
• Backtests indicate that the stock picks perform better than the broad S&P 500 stock market index
• Reasonable annual subscription fees

Cons

• Alpha Picks is a relatively new investment newsletter

Costs

• The subscription to Alpha Picks by Seeking Alpha costs $199 per year. Seeking Alpha Premium costs $239 per year.

Best Offers

• Alpha Picks by Seeking Alpha with 50% Off for the first year.
• Seeking Alpha Premium 58% discount for daytradingz.com readers and 14 day free trial

7. Trade Ideas A.I. – Best Day Trading Alert Service and A.I. Scanner Technology

Trade Ideas is slightly different from the stock picking services mentioned before because the stock picks are generated automatically by Trade Ideas’ proprietary market scanner. In addition, users can decide whether to define their own scanner algorithms or receive trade alerts automatically from the pre-defined artificial intelligence-based platform Holly.

The Trade Ideas also comes with backtesting capabilities and automated trading features.

The number of trade alerts widely varies depending on the scanner settings, but all in all, it is clear that the service is favorable for day traders. So if you want to trade the stock market daily or let the computer execute your trades, Trade Ideas is an excellent choice.

If you are not a day trader, Trade Ideas A.I. can also be used to swing trade.

Pros

• Stock scanners for over 8,000 stocks
• A.I. technology backed products and services
• Charting, backtesting, automated trading, education and more included
• TI-Strength alerts are available separately

Cons

• Less useful for buy-and-hold investment strategies

Costs

• Trade Ideas Standard costs $118 per month or $999 per year. Trade Ideas Premium costs $228 per month or $1,999 per year.

Best Offer

• The discount code DAYTRADINGZ saves you 15% on any Trade Ideas subscription.

8. Bear Bull Traders – Best for Large-Cap Day Traders

Bear Bull Traders was founded in 20215 by Andrew Aziz, a best-selling Author of various trading-related books, including How to Day Trading. The trading community quickly became one of the most reputational sources and provided a great mix of education, live trading, trading technologies and mentorship.

Bear Bull Traders does not provide long-term investment advice. Instead, Andrew and his team focus on day trading and partially swing trading. In the morning, Andrew Aziz and his colleague Brian Pezim start analyzing the market about 15 minutes before the market open and then day trade live with screen share once the regular trading session begins.

That makes Bear Bull Traders a great place to learn how to pick the right stocks for day trading and to gather insights on how to day trade picked stocks. In addition, Brian shares his swing trading ideas every weekend with subscribers. Keep in mind that it is always reasonable to start day trading by using a real-time trading simulator first.

Pros

• Live trading with screen share
• Excellent mix of educational and live-trading aspects

Cons

• No account statements with overall performance insights are available

Costs

• The Elite plan provides full access to all features and costs $199 per month or $2,399 per year.

Best Offer

• Elite Annual pass for $1,199 instead of $2,399 (50% Off) and 20% Off on the monthly Elite subscriptions by using the discount code “daytradingz”

9. Warrior Trading – Best for Small-Cap Day Traders

Warrior Trading belongs to the best stock picking websites. Ross Cameron and his team do a good job teaching beginners how to trade. Unlike the wizard of Oz, they don’t hide behind a curtain. They trade every day live and in real-time.

Ross and his team share their trading screens with subscribers. This way, it’s easy to follow his stock picks and decisions. Their brand new chat room software connects you to the video and audio feed. You can see and hear what they’re trading in real time. When Ross picks a stock or executes trades, you will see and listen to it live on your computer.

Also, Ross publishes follow-up videos every trading day and shares the daily stock watchlist with members.

Pros

• Live day trading alerts
• Proven track record with public account statements

Cons

• Expensive membership fees

Costs

• Warrior Starter costs $997 for one month with the option to renew for $197 per month, and Warrior Pro costs $5,997 for one year or $4,297 with the option to renew for $197 per month.

Best Offer

• Test Warrior Pro for 14 days

10. Mindful Trader – Best Daily Stock Picks for Swing Traders

Eric Ferguson started his swing trade alerts service Mindful Trader after analyzing stock price movements and trading patterns based on mathematical research. Eric holds a Stanford University degree in Economics and sends out his stock trade alerts via email and text message. The 20-year backtest period had a median annual return of 181% and a median account drawdown of -25%. In 2019, the system had a return of 320%, followed by 85% in 2020.

Eric recommends calculating the position size based on his approach by considering the individual account size and stop loss distance. Subscribers of the trading service receive about 5-15 new trade alerts per week. The strategy provides swing trading signals. Current positions, the performance of the most recent trades, and the trade history of the recent 6 months are available from the member dashboard. The Mindful Trader Review provides insights into the member dashboard, features and functionalities.

Pros

• Trades can be executed throughout the day
• Manageable number of trade alerts per week
• Data-driven investment approach
• Access to Eric’s watchlist and swing trades
• Eric’s live positions are visible in the member dashboard
• Historical transactions since inception are transparently listed in the member area

Cons

• Relatively expensive over a more extended period

Costs

• Mindful Trader costs $47 per month. Other subscription types are not offered.

Best Offer:

• Learn more about the Mindful Trader benefits.

11. The Motley Fool Rule Breakers – Best for Investing in Growth Stocks

The Motley Fool offers his Rule Breakers service alongside their leading Stock Advisor service. It is an excellent addition since Rule Breakers is about investing in hidden gem stocks with immense growth potential. The main differentiator of both services is the type of stocks The Motley Fool picks and recommends. Controversially, Stock Advisor is mainly about adding well-established companies to the portfolio.

Motley Fool Rule Breakers is slightly different since sometimes companies with negative earnings per share are periodically added to the portfolio. Conversely, if the Motley Fool research team identifies companies with high growth potential, they assume that those companies will turn their balance sheet results significantly to the upside.

Amazon is probably one of the most popular examples of growing the value of a stock in the long run. Amazon held its EPS below 0 for a long time and invested all the money it earned in growth. You know where Amazon is today, and The Motley Fool Rule Breakers is about finding the next stock like Amazon.

There are two more benefits for subscribers to the Motley Fool Rule Breakers. First, the subscription costs only $99 for new members in the first year using the discounts below. Finally, the combination of Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers gives you one stock pick each week on Thursday.

While Stock Advisor stock picks are sent out to subscribers on the first and third Thursday of a month, the Rule Breakers recommendations are sent to subscribers every second and fourth Thursday.

Pros

• Excellent stock picking performance since inception with 130+ recommendations with 100%+ returns
• One of the best stock picking services for long-term investors
• Beats the average S&P 500 stock market returns
• Comes with a 30 day money back guarantee and starter stocks for new subscribers

Cons

• Not yet as successful as Motley Fool Stock Advisor

Costs

• Motley Fool Rule Breakers costs $299 per year.

Best Offer

• New members join Rule Breakers for $99 in the first year (backed by a 30-day membership fee back guarantee.)

12. The Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks – Best New Stock Picking Service for Investors

The Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks service was newly introduced in 2021. We don’t know much about the performance yet, but the creators are the same who are behind Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers. So, the chances are that this stock picking service will also outperform the S&P 500 significantly.

There is one unique thing that makes Everlasting Stocks unique. Tom Gardner, The Motley Fool CEO, owns shares of each company listed in the Everlasting Stocks service. His approach is to buy and hold the positions forever.

Subscribers to The Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks service receive two buy recommendations every month. You can also browse through the previous stock picks and trades from the member dashboard. In addition, you will see the stock trade performance data for each pick and use the research functionality to discover the most recent ranking, articles and video transcripts.

You also have full access to the community and discussion boards to interact with other investors, share insights, and ask questions.

Pros

• From the creators of Motley Fool Stock Advisor and Motley Fool Rule Breakers
• Instant 15 stock recommendations after sign-up
• Low trade frequency fits perfect to buy and hold investors mentality

Cons

• Relatively new stock picking service by The Motley Fool

Costs

• Everlasting Stocks by The Motley Fool costs $299 per year

Best Offer

• New members get a 67% discount for the first year and subscribe for only $99.

Best Stock Picking Services Summary

The best stock picking services successfully utilize different methods on how to pick stocks. Learning those methods helps you to choose the right stocks in the future successfully. A proven track record, trading screen sharing in real-time, and a fair pricing structure are things to consider signing up for such a service. I think all mentioned services are a great starting point, depending on your investment philosophy.

All three mentioned Motley Fool services are well-suited for beginners, primarily because of the 30-day 100% membership fee back guarantee and the low cost for new subscribers. As a result, it is easily possible to build a portfolio with the starter stocks and current Motley Fool positions. In addition, the bi-weekly trade alerts provide an excellent opportunity to add more positions to the portfolio.

If you are a beginner investor and uncertain about how to buy stocks within your brokerage account, consider reading our guide on how to buy Apple stock as an example with specific guidance about the process of buying shares of stock.

FAQ