MarketBeat vs. Zacks Investment Research Comparison

Research is critical to making informed investment decisions. In this digital age, retail investors are only a click away from access to almost unlimited information. And many of these tools are available for free. But that can make it hard to distinguish between one investment news feed and another.

We’d like to help. In this article, we’re going to compare MarketBeat to Zacks Investment Research. Both MarketBeat and Zacks provide an extensive amount of free content on their websites. For example, users could search for a specific stock such as Apple and they’ll get similar information such as earnings information, analyst ratings, dividend history, and interactive price charts. And both sites give subscribers access to free original content about popular and trending stocks. This information can give investors a better understanding of a particular stock and its movement. Both sites get high marks for ease of navigation.

The purpose of this comparison is for you to better understand what each service provides, particularly if investors choose to access one or more of the company’s premium services. Here are the topics this article will cover:

MarketBeat Overview

Zacks Investment Research Overview

The Key Difference

How Are MarketBeat and Zacks Alike

Review of Premium Services

Conclusion

MarketBeat Overview

MarketBeat was founded in 2011 with the mission of creating high-quality stock research tools and making them available to investors at all levels. The site uses the latest technology to provide proprietary, comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-the-minute financial data including information about analyst recommendations, dividend declarations, and earnings announcements.

All of this information, and more, was made available for free on the company’s website and via the company’s daily newsletters. MarketBeat aims to be a go-to re for both retail and institutional investors. Currently, over 15 million individuals visit MarketBeat.com every month.

Zacks Investment Research Overview

According to the company’s website;

“Zacks Research provides independent research to give investors advice about buying stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs, with a strong emphasis on gaining a trading advantage. Their free services include stock news, research articles written by quantitative analysts, and stock and mutual fund screeners.”

In addition to the free services that Zacks provide the company provides several different premium services that provide in-depth buying and trading advice. Zacks uses a proprietary ranking system for stocks and mutual funds.

The Key Difference

The key difference between MarketBeat All Access and Zack’s Premium is in the point of view. Most of the information on the Zacks site is filtered through the lens of the company’s proprietary rankings (Zacks ranks).  For example a stock that receives a Zacks Rank of #1 is considered a Strong Buy. Zacks has a team of analysts who do the picking and the site makes a conscious effort to direct investors to the stocks with The Zacks Rank Guide and Zacks Style Scores.

MarketBeat All Access is designed for the investor who prefers to have access to information without being steered to any specific investment. It positions itself as a one-stop for investing information.  MarketBeat does provide rankings, such as the Top-Rated Small-Cap stocks that list the 100 small-cap companies that receive the highest average rating among equities research analysts in the last 12 months.

How Are MarketBeat and Zack’s Alike?

Market Insight & Stock Picks

MarketBeat provides subscribers with the Early Bird which is delivered every morning before the market opens as well as the Night Owl which is delivered every evening.

• These newsletters give readers insight on stocks that MarketBeat analysts are tracking as well as a curated selection of investment articles from other financial outlets.
• These newsletters do not directly make stock picks.
• In addition to these newsletters, the MarketBeat site is refreshed every day in real-time with Top Stories including Most Read Stories and the Most Recent Stories. Many of these articles provide exclusive content from MarketBeat analysts.

Zacks delivers a free e-newsletter called Profit from the Pros every weekday morning.

• This provides readers with highlights of timely market news and commentary.
• Investors will also get five stock picks that carry a Zacks Rank #1 rating including a Bull Stock of the Day and fresh ideas for where to look and what to buy.
• The Bull of the Day (and Bear of the Day) are also found as an independent feature on the site.
• The Zacks site is updated throughout the day with exclusive investment articles written by Zacks analysts, researchers, top management and traders.

Portfolio Services

Both sites offer free portfolio tracker tools. Subscribers receive daily email alerts, earnings estimate revisions, analyst recommendation changes, and more. The MarketBeat site provides real-time updates for subscribers. .

Ticker Search

Both sites have an easy-to-use search tool that allows subscribers to get more information on the holdings in your portfolio, or to look at new trades. Both sites give you earnings data, analyst ratings, and other features. And both sites make it easy to quickly add those stocks to your portfolio. Zacks provides you with the Zacks Rank for each stock.

Stock Screeners

Both sites offer stock screening tools. However, at this time only MarketBeat gives investors the ability to compare stocks.

Investment Ideas

MarketBeat provides subscribers with access to information such as Research Tools, Stock Screeners, Top-Rated Analysts, Stock Lists, Trending Stocks and Premium Reports. These can be accessed under the My MarketBeat tab.

Zacks provides subscribers with the best stock-picking idea and market analysis from the company’s editors and analysts. This information includes top screening strategies, ways to profit from breaking news and professional insight on matters related to their portfolios.

Review of Premium Services

For buy-and-hold investors who simply want to have instant information regarding the equities in their portfolio, these free services may be adequate. However active traders will typically need access to more detailed insights. For that, both companies offer several premium services. For the purpose of this article, premium services are defined as services for which customers have to pay to access.

MarketBeat Premium Services

MarketBeat Momentum Alerts – $97 per year

• This service provides short-term trading opportunities identified by MarketBeat editors using trading momentum, market sentiment, and specific financial triggers.
• Subscribers receive approximately 3 to 5 new ideas each month through MarketBeat Momentum Alerts.

MarketBeat Daily Premium – $199 per year/$19.97 monthly

• MarketBeat Daily Premium is delivered 30 minutes before the market opens and provides actionable news, analyst upgrades and downgrades, dividend payout changes, insider buying and selling disclosures, earnings reports and technical data.
• Subscribers get information that is personalized to their My MarketBeat stock portfolio and watchlist, giving them the latest information for the stocks they care about the most.
• Investors can also choose to receive email or SMS alerts for their stocks so they don’t miss major shifts in the market.
• Their daily newsletter contains a summary of key analyst ratings, earnings and dividend announcements, insider transactions of the day.

MarketBeat All Access – $399 per year/$39.97 monthly

• MarketBeat All Access is the company’s premier research platform.
• Subscribers receive all the information included in MarketBeat Daily Premium, plus a Sunday market preview, advanced portfolio monitoring tools (via My MarketBeat), access to MarketBeat’s full suite of research tools and stock screeners, a real-time news feed including email and SMS alerts.
• Subscribers also get access to the MarketBeat Idea Engine, trending stock lists, proprietary brokerage rankings, extended data export tools, and more.

Zacks Investment Research Premium Services

Zacks Premium – $249 per year/free 30-day access

• This service gives subscribers daily updates of the Zacks Rank, Equity Research Reports, Focus List portfolio of 50 longer-term stocks, Premium screens and much more.

Zacks Investor Collection – $495 per year/$59 per month/$1 for 30-day access

• Designed for long-term investors and provides a bundle of the company’s top subscription services from all of the services long-term investor portfolios.
• Subscribers get full access to premium research tools and reports.

Zacks Ultimate program – $2,995 per year/$299 per month/$1 for 30-day access

• Provides market insights and private picks from all of Zacks portfolio recommendation services including exclusive content that is closed to new investors.
• Subscribers can review several investment approaches to find those that best fit their trading style and risk tolerance.

Zacks Research Wizard – $1,800 per year after a 2-week free trial

• Gives subscribers access to the company’s screening and backtesting software.
• This provides access to the company’s full database of stocks, more than 15 built-in proven strategies, short- and long-term detailed research and analysis including up to six years of backtesting data.

Zacks Method for Trading – Home Study  Course – $39

• Uses step-by-step instruction to teach investors how to use the Zacks Rank at their own pace and wherever they choose to access the course.
• Investors will learn how to identify what kind of trader they are, and reviews Zacks proprietary strategies from a variety of different trading styles.
• Subscribers will learn how to create and test their own trading ideas.

Conclusion

While we’re confident in the amount and the quality of the information you receive with your MarketBeat subscription, we want to let you understand what the other services are providing.

As you can see, both MarketBeat and Zacks offer many tools for investors of all types. What may be right for you will depend on a combination of factors. Objectively, MarketBeat’s premium services cost less and may satisfy the information needs of most traders. The site is a one-stop re that will provide most investors with the information they need to execute a trade.

Zacks has proprietary rankings and makes a conscious effort to direct investors to these stocks. However, much of this information is available only to premium subscribers. That means unless you subscribe to one of their premium services that information is not available. However, for some investors having access to that level of information is worth the cost of a subscription.