Investors who want help picking what stocks to invest in have a lot of choices, including platforms like WalletInvestor and The Motley Fool. WalletInvestor uses a machine learning algorithm to predict the price of stocks, funds, cryptocurrencies, and more, while The Motley Fool relies on human analysts to find what they believe are the best stocks in the market today.
In this guide, we’ll compare WalletInvestor vs. The Motley Fool’s flagship Stock Advisor newsletter to help you decide which of these services could be right for you.
About WalletInvestor and The Motley Fool
WalletInvestor was launched in 2017. The platform uses a machine learning algorithm to predict the future price of almost any asset based on its past price behavior. WalletInvestor offers predictions for more than 50,000 assets, including stocks, cryptocurrencies, forex, commodities, and more.
The Motley Fool was founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner. It has grown into a widely used investment research service with more than 700,000 subscribers. The platform’s flagship Stock Advisor newsletter launched in 2002 with a focus on uncovering stocks that beat the market.
WalletInvestor vs. The Motley Fool: Investments and Pick Format
WalletInvestor and The Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor are very different stock picking services.
WalletInvestor relies on a machine learning algorithm to offer price predictions for more than 50,000 assets, including stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, forex, commodities, and real estate in major US cities. Price predictions are updated daily, and users can check the price prediction for any asset that WalletInvestor covers. Price predictions are available by default for timeframes of 7 days, 3 months, 1 year, and 5 years, but premium subscribers can also generate predictions for custom timeframes.
The Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor newsletter relies on human analysts to find stocks with long-term growth potential. Examples of past picks include Amazon, Netflix, and Tesla. There are only two new stock picks each month, and each pick is accompanied by an explanation of why The Motley Fool’s analysts think it’s a good investment. Stock Advisor doesn’t include any research or predictions for stocks that aren’t currently in the portfolio (although the main website, Fool.com, offers coverage of other stocks for free).
WalletInvestor vs. The Motley Fool: Investing Style
WalletInvestor doesn’t have a specific investing style. The service simply generates price predictions based on historical price data. WalletInvestor’s machine learning algorithm doesn’t take fundamentals, news, or company activities into account at all.
For the most part, it’s up to investors to decide which prediction timeframes they want to consider. WalletInvestor has a list of 100 “Best Stocks to Buy,” which are typically stocks with the greatest predicted 5-year return. However, the service doesn’t have a portfolio for investors to mimic.
Stock Advisor, on the other hand, is definitively geared toward long-term investments in high-growth stocks. The service’s recommendations are based on fundamentals, corporate management, and large economic trends, and there is little attention paid to short-term price movements.
The Motley Fool suggests that investors should be willing to buy and hold stocks recommended through Stock Advisor for at least five years. The service keeps a portfolio that investors can monitor as well as a list of “Timely Stocks” for investors who are looking to jump into the market in between new recommendations.
WalletInvestor vs. The Motley Fool: Performance
WalletInvestor doesn’t provide much information about its performance. The service does not offer a long-term analysis of how its algorithm has performed overall or on specific asset classes. In fact, the only metric the service provides is a claim that its algorithm was 72.8% accurate during a two-week period in early 2021.
Importantly, WalletInvestor also doesn’t provide confidence levels in its predictions. So, it’s difficult for investors to know whether a forecast is more or less likely to come true, especially when comparing assets or timeframes. The platform offers basic charts that show both the predicted and actual price, but these only include three weeks’ worth of data and don’t provide a quantitative measure of accuracy.
The Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor is very transparent about its performance. Since launching in 2002, the service has returned 309% compared to 106% for the S&P 500 (as of June 21, 2022). And while not all picks have performed as well, subscribers can view the performance of all positions currently in the portfolio as well as all past positions that have since been closed.
WalletInvestor vs. The Motley Fool: Pricing
WalletInvestor provides one- and five-year price predictions for any asset for free. However, access to seven-day predictions and custom prediction timeframes requires a premium subscription that costs $99 per year.
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Which Service is Better?
WalletInvestor is an interesting service that could be useful for a wide range of short-term traders and long-term investors. The fact that it offers price predictions for crypto, forex, and commodities also makes it worth considering for investors who want to hold more than just stocks. However, it’s hard to fully trust the service or know how to use it effectively without data about its past performance or confidence levels in its predictions.
The Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor newsletter, on the other hand, is highly trustworthy and has a proven track record. It’s designed specifically for long-term investors with an investment timeframe of at least five years. While you won’t get any information about stocks outside of the current portfolio, each stock pick is accompanied by analyst research so you can understand why a stock was picked.
Overall, we think The Motley Fool and its Stock Advisor newsletter is a better choice for most investors than WalletInvestor. You can read our full Motley Fool review here and our full WalletInvestor review here.
Alternatives to WalletInvestor and The Motley Fool
Another stock picking service that blends aspects of both WalletInvestor and The Motley Fool is Zacks Premium. With this service, you get detailed analyst research into thousands of stocks. There are no price predictions, but Zacks assigns each stock a rank from one to five, so you can easily narrow down your selection to just the best stocks.
Zacks doesn’t exactly have a portfolio to follow in the same way as Stock Advisor, but investors can mimic the #1 rank list, which turns over every few months. The #1 rank list has delivered an average annualized return of 24.75% since launching in 1988 (compared to 10.91% for the S&P 500). Zacks Premium costs $249 per year.
Conclusion: WalletInvestor vs. The Motley Fool
WalletInvestor and The Motley Fool are two services that can help investors choose stocks to invest in. We think The Motley Fool and its Stock Advisor newsletter are the better choice for most investors, given the service’s excellent track record and simple pick format. However, keep in mind that Stock Advisor requires an investment timeframe of at least five years, and there are only two stock picks per month.
If you’re still looking to learn more about each of these services, you can read our full WalletInvestor review here, and our full Motley Fool review here.
