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Zacks Investment Research gives investors a quantitative analysis of stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with a strong emphasis on gaining a trading advantage.
While there’s a lot of free content on their website, their Premium and other paid memberships give you access to all of their expert advice. But is it worth the cost? And what can you find on Zacks that you can’t get elsewhere? We’ll help you decide if Zacks is a good fit for your investing needs.
Article Overview
- Rating, Pros & Cons
- Key Features
- Pricing
- User Reviews
- Zacks vs Morningstar
- What’s Our Final Verdict?
Zacks
Pros
- Best for traders
- Wide variety of tools and features
- Strong historical performance for its ESP filter and #1 Rank
- 100% satisfaction guarantee (full refund within 90 days)
- 30-day free trial for Premium subscription
Cons
- Pricier than some competitors
- May be too technical for beginning investors
- Some user complaints that the free trial is difficult to cancel
- Difficult to unsubscribe to their daily emails
Key Features
Like similar investment advice sites (The Motley Fool, Morningstar, etc.), Zacks offers a wide variety of features, including the latest investing news, analyst reports, real-time market data, top investment picks, and a portfolio manager. But here are the noteworthy features and tools that set Zacks apart from its competitors. Note: the following features are included in Zacks’ Premium membership.
- Proprietary mutual fund ranking system that covers nearly 19,000 mutual funds
- Zacks #1 Rank list — the top 5% of stocks with the most potential for outperforming the market (updated daily)
- Premium Stock Screens that filter by value, growth, momentum, income, and more
- Focus List — a portfolio of 50 longer-term stocks to consider
- Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) Filter — find stocks that Zacks analysts think will beat the Wall Street expectations (good for short-term traders)
- Extensive equity research reports
Zacks also has two higher-tier subscriptions. Their Investor Collection (meant for long-term investors) comes with everything in Premium plus real-time buy and sell signals and their Stocks Under $10 strategy. Zacks Ultimate includes access to everything plus exclusive stock picks and analysis.
Pricing
Zacks Premium has a 30-day free trial. Investor Collection and Ultimate have a 30-day trial for $1. They also have a 90-day money-back satisfaction guarantee that customers say do they honor.
- Premium: $249/year
- Investor Collection: $495/year or $59 monthly
- Ultimate: $2,995/year or $299 monthly
- View all subscription options
Customer Reviews
Positive Reviews
You have to check everyday and do your plan take info look for number 1 VGM stocks to buy. I’m already $12,000 in gains the past 2 months with $80,000 account. – Cesar P., Sitejabber 8/10/2020
I tried both their premium and ultimate 30 day offers and I absolutely loved them. Unfortunately I simply can not afford any extras at this time, as I am raising teenage grandkids! I sent a simple request to cancel my offer at the end of my trial, and Rick ****** replied within a few hours that it is no problem and that he is canceling the subscription. If you are looking to buy a subscription to a financial advising website, I highly recommend this one. I tried the “fool” and I prefer Zacks by a mile. – Paula E., BBB 8/3/2020
Complaints
There is one stock and one ETF I have been paying a lot of attention to the last 3 years (FANG and SPXL). Now with the coronavirus, these two stocks became very clearly insane opportunities. There was no way that it wasn’t completely oversold and would go back to much much higher values quickly. So when I saw Zacks recommend staying away from these (giving them the worst grades possible), they scared me but I decided to suck it up and believe my knowledge about these. So what did not listening to Zacks get me? Well SPXL gave me +50% in 2 months, FANG an insane +160% in 2 months. I don’t know who called them experts, but they lied. It’s not all, every single stock I’ve owned I realized they’ve always been wrong. But the example I’m showing is so over the top they lost all credibility to me. At this point I’m using Zacks to do the exact opposite of what they recommend, and honestly, my portfolio is doing better than it would have in my wildest dreams. Don’t believe a word they say. – Lionel K., Sitejabber 5/22/2020
Zacks top picks become lower picks very quickly. They churn their stock listings in a way that indicates they do little real research, but love to throw out company names willy-nilly! I have had at least 90% of their “top picks” become major losses. Stay away. – W.R., BBB 5/23/2019
Zacks Vs Morningstar
Here are some key comparisons between Zacks and Morningstar, another top investment advice website.
- While Zacks offers plenty of expert advice on mutual funds and ETFs, Morningstar is widely considered the industry leader in mutual fund and ETF research.
- Zacks stock research and advice is arguably stronger than Morningstar.
- Zacks gets overall better customer reviews for their customer service and tech support compared to Morningstar.
- A Zacks Premium membership will run you $249 per year, while Morningstar is more affordable at $199 per year.
- When it comes to free trials and money-back guarantees, Zacks comes out on top. Morningstar’s free trial is only 14 days (Zacks’ is 30 days), and Morningstar doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee. Zacks has an impressive 90-day guarantee.
What’s Our Final Verdict?
Should you consider a Zacks membership? It really comes down to your investment interests and goals, as well as your budget. Zacks’ major strengths lie in trading and shorter-term investments. And they have some valuable research tools that could prove very useful in your buying and selling decision-making process. But they have plenty of advice for long-term investors as well. It’s worth trying them out with their 30-day free trial, and their 90-day money-back guarantee is an added plus.
If you’re not sure if Zacks is a good fit, be sure to check out our reviews of the best investment research websites to see other popular options as well as investment news sites we find invaluable. We also have in-depth reviews of Zacks’ major competitors, The Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor, Morningstar Premium, and Seeking Alpha. Given that these services offer some research and tools that are unique, it’s not uncommon for investors to sign up for more than one service.
