SeekingAlpha.com promotes themselves as “the world’s largest investing community powered by the wisdom and diversity of crowdsourcing.”
Since their launch in 2004 they have become one of the most popular stock research sites with over 20 million visits per month.
Like most sites, some of their information is available for free; but the valuable information is only available to paid or Premium users. They currently have 2 paid products:
- Seeking Alpha Premium — This service allows you full access to all of their features, including the “Quant Rating” on any stock you choose. This service is for those investors who want to do their own research.
- Alpha Picks — This service is their stock recommendation service and makes picking stocks easy. It is for people that don’t want to do their own research on stocks and would rather just be told what stocks to buy each month. Twice a month they release a stock recommendation that has one of their highest “Quant Ratings.” This service is performing very well since its launch and is easily beating the S&P500. See our detailed Alpha Picks Review.
So what is so special about this “Quant Rating”? It is their secret sauce!
Here’s all you need to know: Since 2010, stocks that have had their highest “Quant Rating” have outperform the market by 5x.
Do you see that? Investing in Seeking Alpha’s Strong Buy stocks would give you a $196,899 Total Return compared to the S&P500’s return of $41,379. That is almost a factor of 5x; and an average annualized return of 25%.
From their webpage, they explain their quant system as follows:
Here’s how our quant system works
- Seeking Alpha’s ‘Strong Buy’ quant ratings are the result of powerful computer processing and our special ‘Quantamental’ analysis.
- From nearly all U.S. securities, our quant algorithm picks stocks with the strongest collective value, growth, profitability, EPS Revisions, and price momentum metrics vs. the peer sector.
- These attributes are assigned grades that are then weighted to maximize the predictive value. The best stocks are awarded a ‘Strong Buy’ rating.
- Over the last 12 years, the backtested strategy has delivered very impressive returns, beating the S&P 500 every single year.
- What’s more, if we look at the performance since inception (December 2009 onwards), our ‘Strong Buy’ stock picks have delivered a staggering return, as you can see above.
So, Is Seeking Alpha Worth It?
Based on the fact that their “Strong Buy” rated stocks have drastically outperformed the market by 5x, the answer is absolutely YES!
If you want to buy stocks that are mostly likely to outperform the market and avoid those stocks that are likely to underperform, then YES, it is definitely worth it.
To be clear, Seeking Alpha offers 2 paid subscription products:
- Seeking Alpha Premium–This service is for investors who want to research their own stocks, check on the rating of their stocks, and have access to ALL of research and reports on the Seeking Alpha platform. The service is currently priced at $239 a year, but there is a $50 off coupon if you click the link at the bottom of this page. This review focuses on this Seeking Alpha Premium product.
- Alpha Picks–This service is for investor who just want to be told what to buy. If you just want a list of their 2 highest rated stocks each month, then you should consider their Alpha Picks service. At just $99 for your first year, it is definitely worth it too considering:
- Alpha Picks Update as of October 1, 2023: Since their launch in July, 2022 their average pick is up 23.6% vs S&P's 6.5%; so they are providing 17.1% alpha. For their picks that are at least 12 months old, they are up 37.6% vs 11.9% for 25.7% alpha and 92% have been profitable. Their Aug 1 pick is already up 17%; May 15 pick is up 53%; April 17 pick up 29%; December pick of MOD up 122% and November 15 pick of SMCI is up 221%.
- Most significantly, one of their August 2022 picks was just acquired and that resulted in a 57% gain in just 6 months!
- See our ALPHA PICKS REVIEW to get more information about this service.
Keep reading and I’ll tell you everything you need to know about Seeking Alpha Premium.
A Quick Intro To SeekingAlpha.com
The Seeking Alpha platform is powered by information, ideas, research, analysis, and opinions crowdsourced from its users.
This means that their users submit their thoughts and research on U.S. stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, commodities and cryptocurrencies. But this is no simple “message board.” Their posts are more like well thought-out research reports that are then reviewed by the Seeking Alpha editorial staff to make sure the content passes a quality review.
They have over 7,000 writers and publish 10,000 stock opinions per month. But don’t worry, the Seeking Alpha team scrutinizes its authors carefully to make sure that they are credible and don’t have any conflicts of interest with the stocks they’re discussing.
In addition to all their contributed stock research, Seeking Alpha also provides a variety of stock ratings. These ratings include a Quantitative Analysis Rating, a Seeking Alpha Author Rating, and a Wall Street Rating. These ratings have proven to be valuable at predicting future performance. But here’s the catch. The Wall Street Ratings are available to free members; and the Quant and the Author Ratings are only available to Premium members.
Power of the Seeking Alpha Quant Rating
This one chart says it all. This is a backtest of investing $10,000 in the “Strong Buy” Quant-rated stocks on January 1, 2010 through the first half of 2022. That $10,000 would have grown by $185,853 compared to only $37,930 if $10,000 had been invested in the S&P 500 in 2010.
STRONG BUY Stock’s Performance
That chart speaks for itself! $196k vs $41k is a huge difference over a 13 year period. And the AVERAGE ANNUALIZED RETURN of 25% is also awesome over a 13 year period.
VERY BEARISH Stock’s Performance
Conversely, this next chart shows what investing in the “Very Bearish” stocks would have resulted from 2010 to 2023. These stocks would have only returned 45% versus the S&P 500’s 323%.
So the answer is clear. You should only buy “STRONG BUY” stocks and avoid stocks rated “VERY BEARISH.”
It is that simple and takes the stress out of managing your own portfolio.
So How Do You Get the Seeking Alpha Quant Rating?
When you are NOT a member and you get a quote, it will look like this:
However, when you are a PREMIUM Seeking Alpha member and you get a quote, you will see the Ratings Summary and Factor Grades in the right column. I picked this stock because it is a STRONG BUY:
As a member, when I create “my portfolio” of stocks to monitor, I can then see the ratings of all my stocks in one summary view. Take a look at this view:
It is that simple. Nothing to download. Nothing to install. Just become a member, and you have access to so much more. You can even link “my portfolio” to your real stock portfolio so that they stay in sync.
Stocks rated “STRONG BUY” by Seeking Alpha’s “Quant Rating” are up 1,754% compared to the S&P 500’s 385% over the last 10 years.
Bottom line: Only buy stocks that are rated STRONG BUY and don’t own any stocks rated VERY BEARISH!
CLICK HERE save $50 and start your 7-day free trial of Seeking Alpha Premium.
Keep reading for more details…
What Is Seeking Alpha Premium?
Seeking Alpha Premium is essentially the “upgraded” version of the platform’s Basic membership.
You get access to lots of features you don’t get with a basic plan, plus extra capabilities on other features.
Customer Service:
Phone at 1-347-509-6837
Email at subscriptions@seekingalpha.com
SEEKING ALPHA SUMMARY
What You Get:
- Over 10,000 Stock Research Articles per Month
- Professional Stock Ratings
- Listen to Earnings Calls and Read Transcripts
VERIFIED Performance History:
- STRONG BUY ranked stocks have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 1400%
- VERY BEARISH ranked stocks have underperformed the S&P 500 by over 300%
Here are the features if you sign up for a Premium subscription:
- Stock analysis email alerts
- Real-time news updates
- Access to stock prices & charts
- Wall Street Ratings for every stock
- See ALL Quant Ratings and underlying metrics
- View Seeking Alpha author stock ratings
- View Seeking Alpha author ratings performance
- Get alerts on upgrades and downgrades on your portfolio
- Less ads
- Access all Premium investing ideas
- Listen to earnings and conference call recordings
- Screen for Top Rated Stocks with ratings screener
- Access all stock earnings transcripts
- Track each investing idea’s performance
- View article sidebar: stock chart, key data, ratings
- See stock dividend and earnings forecasts
- Access Dividend Grades for each dividend stock
- Review 10 years of financial statements
- Compare 7 stocks at once
- See the EPS Revisions Grade in the earnings calendar
The Premium subscription is an absolute must if you want to maximize the return of your portfolio and beat the S&P 500. It usually sells for $239 a year, but it is frequently on sale.
The Premium plan is simply the best value for your buck. Plus, you can get a one-week trial of Seeking Alpha Premium, absolutely free! CLICK HERE to get your 7-day free trial!
Is Seeking Alpha Worth It?
Seeking Alpha is absolutely worth the money, if you use it the right way. Stocks rated “STRONG BUY” on their Quant Rating have outperformed the S&P 500 1,754% to 385%; and stocks rated “VERY BEARISH” have underperformed miserably. So only buy stocks rated “STRONG BUY” and avoid all “VERY BEARISH” stocks!
In order to prove to you that Premium is a worthwhile investment, we’re going to give you the top 5 reasons why we think you should go Premium.
#1: Top Rated Stocks Screener
The Top Rated Stocks screener is a special tool for Premium users that automatically finds you the most promising stocks by applying filters for the best quant ratings, Seeking Alpha author ratings, Wall Street analyst ratings, and several factor ratings.
When you use the Top Rated Stocks screener, you’re getting evaluations of a stock from three different perspectives, all with different motives and methods.
Seeking Alpha authors are independent investors who spend hours searching through news and financial statements in order to get a good read on the fundamentals of a stock.
Wall Street analysts are financial professionals who have access to expensive tools and research that help them build thorough financial models such as discounted cash flow (DCF) models that can provide a good estimate on the valuation of a company.
The quant, or quantitative analysis, system is an objective, unemotional stock evaluation system that is executed entirely through computer algorithms.
When you have a stock that is rated highly by all three of these sources, it will appear on the Top Rated Stocks screener, making it easy to know that you can be confident in the stocks on the list!
#2: Earnings Call Transcripts and Audio
With a Premium subscription to Seeking Alpha, you can read transcripts and listen to audio recordings of earnings and conference calls for stocks that aren’t covered anywhere else.
Earnings calls help us see if there were any surprises by comparing the last quarter’s earnings to what they were expected to be.
We can also use information given in earnings forecasts to make educated guesses on whether a stock’s price will rise or fall.
#3: Dividend Grades
Seeking Alpha has its own unique dividend grading system that helps you evaluate the strength, growth, and reliability of a stock’s dividend.
Dividend Grades give you a different score for a company’s dividend safety, growth, yield, and consistency.
If you’re looking to balance your portfolio out with a big-name, dividend producing company, or you want to pursue an income investing strategy, Seeking Alpha’s dividend grades can get you there.
#4: Quant Ratings and Metrics
Seeking Alpha’s quant system has a stellar history of beating the market, making it a valuable tool for deciding which stocks to invest in.
The Seeking Alpha quant system gives stocks a rating based on value, growth, profitability, momentum, and EPS (earnings per share) revisions.
With a Premium subscription, you can see all quant ratings and underlying metrics that determine what quant rating stocks receive.
This level of depth is extremely useful if you have a specific investing strategy in mind and you want to get to the bottom of a stock’s quant rating.
#5: Stock Comparison
Let’s say you want to add an up-and-coming tech stock to your portfolio, but you’re stuck between a few different options.
Seeking Alpha will let you compare stocks side-by-side to help you decide which stock is the best by whatever standard is important to you.
You can compare a stock to its peers as well as a stock’s Wall Street ratings vs. its Seeking Alpha ratings.
With Seeking Alpha premium, you can compare 7 different stocks at the same time!
Remember: Stocks rated “STRONG BUY” by Seeking Alpha’s “Quant Rating” are up 1,754% compared to the S&P 500’s 385% over the last 10 years.
Bottom line: Only buy stocks that are rated “STRONG BUY” and don’t own any stocks rated “VERY BEARISH!”
CLICK HERE to get your 7-day free trial of Seeking Alpha Premium.
Seeking Alpha Conclusion
Given the graphs that shows the Seeking Alpha STRONG BUY’s crush the market and their VERY BEARISH drastically underperform the market, it is safe to conclude that their quant rating works and Seeking Alpha is worth it. Plus those five reasons above also provide reason to upgrade from their free service
Finally, given the price of $239 per year, makes it a no brainer for anyone that wants to increase their odds of beating the SP500!
If you’re looking for more, read our full Seeking Alpha review here! Or read our comparison of Seeking Alpha vs Morningstar.
And if you are the type of investor that just wants their 2 top rated stocks each month and you don’t need all their research, then their ALPHA PICKS subscription might be better for you. See our ALPHA PICKS REVIEW to get more information about this $99 service.
Click Here to save $50 and get your 7-day free trial!
