The Financial Reader

Investing in stocks may seem as easy as buying assets from companies that gain value, create income, or both. However, in reality, making such clever moves is pretty hard, especially with the massive amount of stocks to sift through. Luckily, with the help of an excellent stock picking service, you can overcome that challenge by providing you with the right stocks that match your trading style and interests. In this guide, you will have a better understanding of the pros and cons of the best free stock picking services on the market. Make sure to pick the right service for your needs and preferences.

Why Should You Buy Single Stocks?

Stocks, ETFs, or mutual funds: which one of these is the best option to invest in the stock market? It is really worth the risk and time to fill your portfolio with single stocks, or would you rather select ETFs or mutual funds, which provide you with the opportunity to open up to other sectors of your interest without having a high risk of putting all your money in one basket?

With the modern investment theories, it is highly recommended to diversify your portfolio to minimize the risk while gaining maximum revenues.

But still, as long as you are interested in getting into the world of single stocks, continue reading to find all that you need to know about the best free stock picking services on the market.

What is a Stock Picking Service?

The primary purpose of stock picking services is to help investors and traders choose the best stocks for their portfolio. There are various platforms and services on the internet, and every one of them comes with different pros and cons. Besides, they come with different prices; some of them are curated and expensive, while many others are more automated and a lot cheaper. Even more, there are free services that provide decent content as well.

Many popular paid stock picking services have been in the business for quite some time now and are known for their high-quality content. However, most of them come with a relatively high price. Some of these popular services are Jason Bond Picks, Dow Theory, and Timothy Sykes. What makes these services a lot expensive than other services is their human investment experts who analyze and provide the members with detailed reports of recommended stocks. You should opt for one of these services if you want to learn more about the stock market. However, not everyone can pay high charges. Instead, I believe that you came here looking for the best free stock picking services on the internet.

Even though the quality of these free services isn’t as high as in other paid services, but it is still quite decent and credible and can help you find the right investments for your portfolio.

What Are the Best Free Stock Picking Services on the Market?

Stock Screeners

By definition, a stock screener is a tool that traders and investors can use to filter out different stocks based on user-defined criteria and create a list of eligible stocks. A stock screener is a beneficial tool for every investor. Here are some top options:

Zacks Stock Screener: this screener is a part of the famous stock research company Zacks. When using this tool, you can sift through US-based stocks using a various number of metrics. Besides, you can use the book value per share metric, which is one of the favorite parameters for Warren Buffett. Also, you can purchase a paid subscription to unlock additional features. But still, the free version of the Zacks Stock Screener is one of the best screening tools on the market.

Google Finance Stock Screener: if you are looking for a simple tool with a clean interface, you can opt for the stock screening tool provided by Google. Even though it has fewer features than the Zacks’ tool, but it is still a very efficient and powerful tool.

Stock Tips

Large investment banks like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and various other Wall Street names employ a significant number of expert analysts to pick a target price on stocks best. That’s what made them even more successful. Fortunately, some expert analysts with similar skills share their knowledge and write for investment news sites and free blogs. Here are three of the best stock tips websites where you benefit from all the valuable information written by expert analysts:

Seeking Alpha: you will find a massive array of articles in this mega investing website. Even more, you can access all these articles with free registration. In these articles, you will find detailed stock market reports and tips on why particular stocks seem high and profitable right now. Besides, you can read about market news and investment strategies to further enhance your investment skills.

24/7 Wall St: in this large investing website, you will find a variety of free analysis and different other articles on business and finance topics. Also, it is a part of the AOL-HuffPost sites. That’s what adds more value and trust to its content.

Minyanville: Even though this excellent investing website provides some premium paid products, there are various free stock picking information that offers valuable content. Also, its key feature is the transparency of the authors who provide detailed articles of when and why you should drop a particular stock.

Social Stock Picking

By joining a social investing service, you will find a lot of useful information from various investors of different experience level. You will have the opportunity to learn from other investors’ experiences, as well as many valuable recommendations and tips about investing. Besides, these different social services are regularly reviewed by moderators to ensure the validity and credibility of the contents. So, if you are interested in joining any social stock picking service, here are two recommendation for you:

KINFO: enroll in KINFO and connect your brokerage account get access to the free stock picking app. After completing the registration process, you will find various portfolios of expert investors and hedge funds. Besides, there is plenty of other valuable information about stocks you own as well as the ones you are interested in. More importantly, you will have the opportunity to browse some of the portfolios of famous personal finance bloggers.

StockTwits: when joining StockTwits, you will undoubtedly notice that it is very similar to Twitter, but only dedicated to investing. That’s what makes it easier to use for every user. Instead of using hashtags (#) to create topics, StockTwits uses dollar signs ($). Besides, you can watch the real-time feed and click on a particular stock to have a better idea about what other investors have been talking about it. It is so simple to use, yet it is beneficial with all the valuable topics you can find in this social investing service. Sign up in StockTwits to track your portfolio, and create a watchlist for particular stocks.

Final Thoughts

Thanks to the internet, we no longer need to spend hours reading books to learn about all the aspects of investing. Instead, you can find whatever you have in mind with just a few clicks. There is plenty of information on the internet to help you out with your learning process. Besides, by joining a stock picking service, you make your investment journey easier and a lot more profitable due to the vast amount of valuable information. Moreover, make sure to check the info and researches provided by your own broker as well.

Remember, the key to becoming a successful investor is to approach your investments with cautious mind, common sense, and detailed analysis.