How Long Should You Hold Stocks

Zacks vs Morningstar: What is the difference?

Originally Published: May 20, 2019. Updated: June 16, 2020

Zacks vs Morningstar: Investing Advice

When it comes to investing, we're all looking for advice and analysis. That's exactly what both Zacks and Morningstar provide. They are investment research companies focused on helping investors maximize their gains using a variety of tools and techniques.

Zacks Investing ResearchAbout Zacks Investing Services

The founder of Zacks Investment Research is Len Zacks, which he created in the year 1978. The main aim of Zacks Investment Research is to provide investors with independent research that will give them a trading advantage. A team of experts runs the company through quantitative analysis.

Zacks is the research company that helps investors to figure out which of the many mutual funds have the potential to do well in the current market scenario. This company has covered close to 19,000 mutual funds in February 2019. On a scale of one to five, rating one denotes a strong recommendation to buy the common stock. Zacks follows two ranking systems. The first one is for the U.S stock-based funds, and the other is applicable for all the additional funds.

Zacks Top Stocks

Zacks frequently releases their top stocks for investors to utilize. One of their most popular lists is the Zacks Top 10 Stocks list. This list is released once annually and includes their top stock picks to hold throughout the year.

How Much Does Zacks Premium Cost?

If you want to get the most in-depth analysis of your investments, you can register for Zacks premium services. 

To get started, you can sign up for a free trial for 30 days. After 30 days, you'll be charged an annual subscription fee of $249 for unlimited access to their premium services including:

  • Access to the Zacks #1 Rank List of “best in class” stocks
  • Zacks Industry Ranks report to find top performers by industry 
  • Earnings ESP Filter
  • Focus List of 50 stocks
  • Handpicked investments from industry experts

How Much Does Zacks Ultimate Cost?

If you want to get an even more in-depth analysis of your investments, you can register for Zacks ultimate service. 

To get started, you can sign up for a $1 trial for 30 days. After 30 days, you'll be charged a monthly subscription fee of $299 (or $3,588 annually) for access to their premium services plus:

    • All short term trading portfolios
    • All our long-term investing portfolios
    • All our private market insights
    • All features of Zacks Premium services

Morningstar Investing Research

About Morningstar Investing Services

Morningstar tops the chart when it comes to the financial industry’s independent research company. It was created in the year 1984 by Joe Mansueto and was based in Chicago. The company now has over five-thousand employees working all around the globe.

Morningstar follows the star rating method on one to five stars. The first ten percent of the funds from this category are rated five, whereas the last ten percent of funds from this category are rated one. The three types based on which the rating is done every three years, five years, and ten years. Analyst rating is also available here, which includes gold, silver, bronze, neutral, and contrary to which the gold rating signifies that it is an excellent option for the investors.

How Much Does Morningstar Premium Cost?

Similar to Zacks premium, Morningstar also offers a premium service that offers their tops mutual fund, ETF, and stock picks as well as access to track and analyze other investments. 

The premium service offers a free 14 day trial with an annual cost of $199.

What is the stark difference between Zacks and Morningstar?

Two distinct membership packages are offered by Morningstar of which one requires registration on its website, and the other is free of cost. The free membership can be used to view the rating of the mutual funds. For in-depth information, one has to go premium. On the other hand, Zacks offers multiple options for its investors, of which the most common one is the Zacks Premium. 

Morningstar and Zacks both give out the report of investment is a similar style. The only difference lies in their contrast of ways. When it comes to financial data, Morningstar has more to offer.

Both Morning Star and Zacks show stock Sector Breakdown. The only difference here is that Morningstar opts an S&P sector weighting percentage and A vibrant pie-chart is used by Zacks to denote the same.

There is a short description of the mutual funds, provided by Zacks while includes the history and objectives of the funds. The Morningstar offers no such explanation.

Thus, we can conclude from the above discussion that both Zacks and Morningstar should be considered as both offer different insights about mutual funds. While Zacks focuses more on the quantitative aspect, fundamental analysis plays a huge role when it comes to Morningstar. Using unbiased ratings, one can finally decide the potential of the mutual funds they are considering to invest.

Conclusion: Which Investing Advice is Better?

Investing strategies can be difficult to compare. Our advice? Pick the service that feels right for your needs. Do you prefer to pick individual stocks? Zacks might be better for you. Do you prefer mutual funds or ETFs? Morningstar is probably a better fit. 

Either way, there is no wrong selection between the two. Zacks and Morningstar both offer great investment analysis and tools to compare investments and improve your performance.

Have you used Zacks or Morningstar? Comment your thoughts below!

Looking for more help managing your investments? Check out our article 5 Strategies to Know Before Investing in the Stock Market or What You Must Think About Before Investing Your Money.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *