A trustworthy investment research service is crucial for investing in individual stocks and funds. The Motley Fool and Morningstar are two of the most popular platforms, and I’ve used both of them for extensive research to compare the overlapping features, such as analyst reports and portfolio trackers, and distinguish the investment styles.
When comparing The Motley Fool vs. Morningstar, I’ve determined the strengths of each investment site to help you decide which is better for your investing needs.
Overview of The Motley Fool vs. Morningstar
When evaluating these two platforms, it’s important to understand their background and goals to determine if their philosophy matches your investing strategy. While both provide investment research, the available information differs greatly.
What is The Motley Fool?
The Motley Fool offers several premium investing services that provide at least two monthly stock picks plus weekly portfolio updates. These recommendations include growth stocks with a buy-and-hold investment strategy since the goal is to hold each stock for over five years.
This platform is the brainchild of brothers Tom and David Gardner. Today, its most popular service is Motley Fool Stock Advisor, which balances risk with growth potential to ensure its stock recommendations are a good fit for most portfolios.
Subscribers can read a detailed analyst report for each stock recommendation. You can also screen investment ideas by cautious, moderate, and aggressive risk tolerance.
Additionally, a Foundational Stocks list and a Top-Rated section share some of today’s best investment opportunities to help subscribers buy at least 25 recommendations. As a Stock Advisor subscriber, I have plenty of stocks to choose from anytime.
Unfortunately, the in-depth research doesn’t apply to stocks outside the model portfolio. Luckily, each publication contains many investment ideas.
Learn More: Motley Fool Review: Is Stock Advisor Worth It?
What is Morningstar?
Morningstar was one of the first investment sites for individual investors, offering stock and fund research. I have been using their ratings and analyst reports for years to compare investments and you can get even more research tools with a free or paid membership.
This platform is famous for its five-star Morningstar Rating system, which ranks mutual funds, ETFs, and stocks by performance in relation to other investment options.
You can also subscribe to Morningstar Investor (previously Morningstar Premium) to get in-depth ratings and analyst reports on stocks and funds.
This service doesn’t offer a model portfolio, although its stock screener and rating lists provide more flexibility in researching potential investments. Specifically, I like that you can read multiple five-star ratings lists to find plenty of investment ideas.
Learn More: Morningstar Investor Review: Is It Worth It?
How Do The Motley Fool and Morningstar Work?
As you decide between these two sites, analyzing how they work can help you choose which suits your needs better.
How The Motley Fool Works
To receive premium insights, you must subscribe to a specific The Motley Fool subscription service. As a result, the in-depth research only applies to stocks within the model portfolio.
There are two services that you may consider joining:
- Stock Advisor: Growth stocks and moderate/moderately aggressive risk levels with two monthly stock picks.
- Epic: Five monthly stocks with recommendations focusing on high-growth stocks with an aggressive risk tolerance and also dividend-payers for a conservative balance.
Furthermore, experienced investors with plenty of free cash may want to subscribe to one of The Motley Fool’s specialty services focusing on small-cap stocks, technology, or ideas for accredited investors.
However, these services may cost at least $1,999 annually.
While each premium service has a different investment strategy, investors can expect these common features.
Monthly Stock Picks
You will receive a stock recommendation two times per month with Stock Advisor or five times with the Epic membership level. Plus, you will get a detailed description explaining the company’s strengths and weaknesses.
Unlike several competing investment newsletter services, the service won’t recommend sector ETFs. Instead, it looks for stocks that they believe can beat the market.
I find the write-up depth similar to competing newsletters by presenting the risks and growth potential. Many recommendations also have a video session answering reader-submitted questions to learn more about the newest stock pick.
Starter Stocks
In addition to the monthly stock picks and a model portfolio that may have active recommendations from several years ago, there are curated lists of Foundational Stocks that can be good to add to your portfolio at any time.
As the stock-picking service calls them “Starter Stocks,” I suggest reviewing this list to help add more positions to your portfolio instead of waiting for the next recommendation.
The Motley Fool recommends that subscribers gradually buy at least 25 stock suggestions. These foundational stocks represent several industries and are usually good to purchase whenever you want instead of waiting for a buy recommendation.
No Stop Losses
The service recommends stocks it believes will outperform the market over the next three to five years.
Other investment newsletters may utilize stop losses and buy-up-to-prices to manage risk. The Motley Fool rarely moves a recommendation to a hold or sell rating based on short-term performance unless they think a stock’s long-term integrity is threatened.
Instead, investors should ignore the fluctuating share price and focus on long-term performance. In many situations, stocks and the market go up over several years, and you can make more money versus timing the market.
Watchlist
The Motley Fool lets you track the investment performance of stocks you buy with real money and others on your watchlist that you may paper trade.
This tool lets you view the 52-week trading range, share price volatility, and five-year performance for Fool recommendations and outside picks.
I also like that the service provides quant ratings for key performance indicators for its active recommendations along with a historical price chart.
Stock Screener
Each service has its own stock screener to find stock picks meeting your criteria. This feature is suitable for sifting through the model portfolio.
It’s important to note that you have relatively few search filters compared to traditional screeners, and it won’t look up stocks outside your subscription. You can filter results by risk tolerance and other fundamental metrics to build a diversified portfolio.
How Morningstar Works
Morningstar Investor is a self-directed research platform that lets you look up stock ratings and in-depth reports for any investment. I like this flexibility as you’re able to perform unlimited research and learn more about ideas you find from your online research and in-person conversations.
Additionally, this service also offers four premium newsletters that can provide curated investment lists and monthly commentary on a specific investment type.
The newsletters include:
- DividendInvestor
- ETFInvestor
- FundInvestor
- StockInvestor
Depending on the service, you will pay $170 to $239 per year for a digital subscription. Print subscriptions are also available for a higher cost. This is the one way to get a hands-on model portfolio similar to what The Motley Offers, but doesn’t include access to other premium research tools.
Here are the features you can expect from Morningstar.
Morningstar Ratings
The iconic Morningstar ratings can simplify your investment research routine for stocks and funds. You will quickly compare the investment performance to its competitors and several other factors.
These include:
- Economic moat
- ESG rating
- Fund manager
- Price valuation
While past performance doesn’t guarantee future results, this data can be a good way to see how an investment model compares to the industry and stock index benchmarks. Then, you can decide if it’s time to buy, sell or hold an investment.
To make the research process easier, you can browse curated lists, including the best sector ETFs or the top specialized index funds.
While it’s not a model portfolio, you have a surplus of investment ideas to choose from for just about any investment strategy.
I really like being able to read analyst opinions, a summary of key financial data and earnings calls. The fair value assessment updates regularly and helps you determine if an investment is over or undervalued.
In addition to the stock and fund ratings, you can read an in-depth analysis from one of the platform’s 150+ independent analysts for many companies and funds.
Stock Screener
This platform also offers a robust stock screener that lets you apply several advanced filters to narrow your search results.
Most of the search criteria are fundamental factors, although you can also apply quantitative ratings for technical analysis.
It’s easily one of my favorite stock screeners for comparing stocks and funds. The sceener filters pair well with the analyst reports, making it possible for Morningstar to be the only investment research site you need.
Portfolio X-Ray
The Portfolio X-Ray tool evaluates the asset allocation and risk rating of your current stock and fund holdings.
Better yet, you can track the performance of your investments and easily receive notifications for the newest Morningstar research covering your holdings.
It’s possible to monitor several accounts using this tool, such as your taxable brokerage account and a retirement plan. The multi-brokerage linking makes this feature highly valuable as you can analyze all of your holdings in one place with plenty of ratings and reports.
The Motley Fool and Morningstar Features
While both services can make investing easier, it’s vital to compare and contrast the best capabilities of each to help you pick the winner.
How Are They Similar?
There are several overlapping features between The Motley Fool and Morningstar.
Educational Content
If you want to expand your knowledge base about investing, new and experienced investors can read articles and listen to content on various investing topics.
In-Depth Research
You may not find the level of research you’ll receive on The Motley Fool and Morningstar on other investing sites. This is particularly true regarding the free sites that are less likely to cover the strengths and risks of a particular stock.
Portfolio Tracker
It’s possible to track the performance of your current holdings and watchlist. Plus, you can compare your portfolio or a single investment to the S&P 500.
Free Research
Although the free research available on both sites provides limited details, it does give you a taste of what information the research articles contain.
How Do They Differ?
Both services tend to focus on different parts of the investment process.
Investment Strategy
The Motley Fool primarily focuses on growth stocks to hold for a few years, while Morningstar applies equal coverage to stocks and funds without a target holding period.
Model Portfolio
Investors wanting a guided experience can benefit from The Motley Fool’s monthly stock picks.
Alternately, Morningstar is more open-ended and doesn’t maintain a model portfolio. Instead, it maintains many curated lists based on its rating system that you can tailor to your current investing style.
Stock Screener
Morningstar lets you screen nearly any publicly traded stock, ETF, and mutual fund.
In comparison, The Motley Fool screener only covers stocks for the services you subscribe to and excludes non-recommended assets. A minor exception is that the asset allocation tool highlights index funds so you can envision a total market portfolio plus your favorite Motley Fool stock picks for potentially higher investment returns.
Plans and Pricing
Both services offer competitive costs for their entry-level premium products.
The Motley Fool Pricing
You will need to pay a separate annual fee for each Motley Fool service since it isn’t a broad-based research platform.
Motley Fool Stock Advisor costs $79* for new members for the first 12 months and then $199 moving forward. This is the most popular and best service overall if you want to get stock recommendations.
Aggressive investors may also consider Motley Fool Epic, which is $499 per year. Your five monthly recommendations source from Stock Advisor, Rule Breakers, Hidden Gems, and Dividend Investor.
Stock Advisor and Epic each have a 30-day membership-fee back guarantee where you can request a refund if the service isn’t a good fit for your investment style.
Other specialized services are also available, but they usually cost more than $1,000 per year, making them too expensive for most investors.
Morningstar Pricing
Morningstar Investor costs $249 annually or $34.95 month-to-month after a seven-day free trial. While this service costs more, you can access additional research tools as you’re not restricted to one model portfolio.
For added premium research focusing on stocks or funds, subscribe to a Morningstar newsletter that costs $170 to $239 per year.
It’s even possible to subscribe to this service instead of Morningstar Investor if you don’t need the extra research tools.
Customer Service
Both services offer online and phone support to paid subscribers.
The Motley Fool
You can contact The Motley Fool Foolish Solutions team online to receive email help. Phone support is also available Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern.
Morningstar
It’s easy to contact Morningstar online. In addition, premium subscribers receive dedicated phone and email support.
Who Should Use Each Platform?
If you’re still unsure whether to choose Morningstar or The Motley Fool, here is a snapshot of the ideal investor for both services.
Who Should Use The Motley Fool
You should consider using The Motley Fool if you want to invest exclusively in growth stocks over the long term (5+ years).
Additionally, this service is the better option if you want a model portfolio with monthly stock recommendations that can be easier to act on because you won’t need to run a stock screen to look for potential investments.
Unfortunately, the in-depth research only applies to stocks that the paid subscriptions recommend, and you may need to subscribe to several services for added diversification.
Who Should Use Morningstar
Morningstar Investor is better if you want to research stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds.
You may also prefer its self-guided research platform, which fits most investment styles.
While you won’t receive investment recommendations or a model portfolio, the Morningstar rating lists can help you identify the best performers within a specific niche.
Additionally, the analyst reports provide bullish and bearish insights for the potential investment.
The Motley Fool and Morningstar Alternatives
If The Motley Fool or Morningstar aren’t right for your investing needs, these alternatives provide in-depth investment research and stock recommendations.
Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha is similar to Morningstar because you can read research reports for stocks and funds from independent authors. It has an impressive stock screener and Quant Ratings. It even tracks the performance of each author.
Your first month costs $4.95 and then $299 annually. You may be able to get a $30 discount for your first 12 months as a first-time subscriber.
Learn More: Is Seeking Alpha Worth It ?
TheStreet
TheStreet offers several investment platforms that provide multiple stock ideas each month. Its flagship Action Alerts Plus (AAP) provides short-term and long-term investing ideas with detailed descriptions. Depending on market conditions, expect several trading alerts per week.
AAP can be a good option if you’re comfortable selling shares more often to either take profits or honor a stop loss with the help of a model portfolio. This service costs $199.99 annually.
Related: Motley Fool vs. Action Alerts Plus
Zacks
Zacks Premium provides an exclusive Zacks Rank on stocks and funds based on the likelihood of outperforming the broad market in the short term. Plus, the Zacks Focus List is a model portfolio of stocks and funds to buy and hold for at least one year.
This premium service has a 30-day free trial. It then costs $249 per year.
Learn More: Zacks Premium Review: Is It Worth It?
Summary
These stock-picking services can help you invest your money wisely with long-term investment ideas. In addition, both platforms can make it easier to find stocks to invest in, with Morningstar extensively covering ETFs and mutual funds.
The better platform for you depends on your investment strategy and research needs. Consider The Motley Fool for curated stock picks and Morningstar if you want flexibility and the ability to research any stock or fund.
*The $99 Stock Advisor promotional price is for new members only. The 50% discount is based on the current stock price of Stock Advisor, which is $199/year. Membership will renew annually at the then