InvestingPro Vs Motley Fool: Which Is Best For Investors? (2024)

Our ranking approach prioritizes transparency and fairness to provide investors with reliable like-for-like insights into stock market tools. We evaluated InvestingPro and Motley Fool using consistent criteria to ensure an unbiased comparison.

While investors still interpret data using their own systems and priorities, access to reliable, up-to-date information reduces the risk of making incorrect or outdated decisions and enhances a tool’s transparency. A strong track record indicates the tool’s ability to make successful stock predictions across various market conditions.

A user-friendly interface simplifies the research process and reduces the need for a sharp learning curve, especially for investors with limited time. Mobile-friendly interfaces or dedicated apps allow investors to stay informed and make decisions on the go.

Investors have diverse needs, and no two investment strategies are exactly alike, and a versatile tool should cater to various strategies, whether long-term investing or day trading. Robust analysis and customization options allow users to tailor their research, providing comprehensive insights for more nuanced investment decisions and ensuring the tool remains relevant as market conditions and investor strategies evolve.

A tool that offers a reasonable subscription cost while consistently delivering accurate data and valuable features ensures its ongoing relevance. This consideration ensures that investors get the most ROI over the longer term.

Company History: InvestingPro is part of Investing.com, a well-established financial platform founded in 2007. Over the years, Investing.com has grown to become one of the top financial websites globally, providing comprehensive market data, news, and analysis. InvestingPro is a premium extension of the platform, offering advanced, data-driven tools and cutting-edge AI insights for a wide range of investors.

Target Audience: InvestingPro caters mostly (although not exclusively) to active investors and traders who require detailed financial data, real-time updates, and sophisticated analytical tools. It is ideal for users who need a professional-grade platform to support their investment decisions and strategies. The ‘ProPicks’ part of the tool is more geared towards investors who prefer a personalized, done-for-you service enhanced by a hybrid AI/Analyst approach to stock-picking and portfolio development.

• Data Accuracy and Timeliness: Provides real-time market data and news, covering up to the last 25+ years.
• Ease of Use: Features an intuitive interface and customizable dashboards.
• Analysis Tools: Offers advanced charting, financial analysis, and company profiles for more than 135,000 worldwide instruments (stocks).

Cost: Various subscription plans to suit different investment needs.

Company History: The Motley Fool was founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner as a traditional print newsletter in a backyard shed in Alexandria, Virginia. It’s a financial services company dedicated to “making the world smarter, happier, and richer”. The Motley Fool reaches millions of people every month through their free onsite articles and podcasts alongside their multiple premium investing solutions. Their name comes from the ‘Fool’ archetype in Shakespearean plays, who tells the truth even when others don’t want to hear it.

Target Audience: Motley Fool considers itself a service for “all types of investors”. However, their investment philosophy centers around buying and holding a diversified portfolio of stocks for at least five years. This suggests that long-term investors are the cohort that is able to make the most of their services.

• Weekly Insights: Includes detailed analyses of chosen companies (up to 10 each month on the higher plan).
• User Interface: Designed to be user-friendly with intuitive navigation.
• Analysis Tools: Model portfolios and advanced tools.
• Cost: Offers various pricing tiers.

While InvestingPro generally appeals to traditional investors starting with a done-for-you service and later needing robust financial tools for individual analysis, Motley Fool attracts those looking to harness expert insights and structured analysis to find new opportunities to consider each week.

Let’s focus further on the differences (or similarities) in features for these two platforms. We’ve broken them down into three sections so it’s easier to find the features that are most important for your day-to-day needs.

Data

• 25+ years of historical data for solid backtesting
• Picks chosen from a pool of over 135,000 securities
• Rapid suggestion adjustment based on moment-to-moment market conditions
• Fully transparent selection criteria
  

Usability & Interface

• Intuitive UI for both new and seasoned investors
• Save individual stock data or customized, filtered security groupings into watchlists
• Strong transparency of stock pick methodology
• Done-for-you options filterable for robust customization
• Customizable company charts to align visible data with investment priorities

Tools

• Advanced AI leverage for trends, inputs and patterns for the stock picks
• S&P 500 and Dow Jones Outperformance portfolios
• Fully formed complete portfolio recommendations to provide immediate balance
• More than 12,000 usable metrics for filtering and on-page visual cues
• Sector peer comparison charts & tables
• Stock outperformance probabilities are based on fundamental, technical and sentiment indicators

Data

• Technical, Fundamental, and Sentiment Indicators used for the picks
• Transparent Previous buy suggestions and impact

Usability & Interface

• User-friendly interface for newer and time-poor investors
• Access to full historical financial data, max drawdown, and projected annualized returns for all publicly traded companies
• Transparency of stock pick methodology

Tools

• Picks based on human expert analysis via multiple metrics
• Uses a proprietary quant system to score the stocks (Quant 5Y)
• Cautious, Moderate, and Aggressive with specific stock allocation portfolio strategy customization

Please remember that backtested and historical performance do not indicate or guarantee future outcomes. With that said, let’s take a look at an example from each tool based on their past performance.

Both InvestingPro and Motley Fool offer valuable tools for investors, each with its own strengths.

Motley Fool is rich in educational resources. While they provide a vast library of articles, reports, and tutorials that cover a wide range of investment topics, novice investors may find these challenging as the articles often contradict each other from one day to the next. Their stock picks, especially through services like Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers, are known for historically outperforming the market, and they offer focused recommendations geared towards long-term growth potential. Transparency is another strong point, as they maintain clear records of their performance and provide detailed rationales behind recommendations. Their strong emphasis on long-term investments may not suit short-term traders, requiring patience as some picks may take years to realize their full potential. Finally, the platform has a strong marketing component, often pushing additional subscriptions, which many users have left negative reviews for across numerous online platforms such as Truspilot.

So while The Motley Fool offers substantial benefits for patient, long-term investors willing to commit both time and financial resources, it may not be ideal for those seeking short-term gains or those uncomfortable with the costs, sometimes-contradictory information, or consistant upsell marketing tactics.

InvestingPro has a significant edge over the other platform thanks to its transparent, robust data sets, extensive list of global equities, and high level of customization for investors. It provides transparent real-time market data and analytics, essential for informed decision-making, through an intuitive, user-friendly interface that appeals to both novice and experienced investors. The integration of news and insights from reputable sources ensures users stay informed about market trends and events.

InvestingPro also excels in educational support, offering tutorials, webinars, and articles for various investor levels. Despite its sophisticated features, InvestingPro remains competitively priced, offering great value for its extensive offerings. And for those who want a more ‘done-for-you’ service in line with the offering at Motley Fool, InvestingPro also offers its monthly ‘ProPicks’ section.

This makes InvestingPro a much better choice for those seeking a comprehensive and adaptable investment tool that continues to be robust enough as investors learn more and want to evolve in their level of activity. Especially true for shorter-term investors who want to keep up with market movements in the moment.

InvestingPro is designed to be user-friendly with an intuitive interface, making it accessible for beginners. It offers a range of tools and features that are easy to navigate, providing valuable insights even for those new to investing.

InvestingPro is known for its accuracy in providing real-time data and comprehensive analysis. The platform’s reliability comes from its extensive market data from industry-renowned sources (such as MorningStar and Bloomberg), and advanced analytical tools, helping users make informed investment decisions.

The main benefits of using investment platforms include both quant and qualitative-driven stock predictions, tailored recommendations, and the ability to optimize portfolios. Both platforms mentioned in this article offer a comprehensive analysis of a range of stocks, helping investors to make informed decisions and improve returns.

Yes, these two platforms are designed to help improve investment returns by identifying high-potential stocks which may also be currently undervalued relative to their financial fundamentals.

Motley Fool is best for those looking to leverage stock picking for long-term (at least 5 years) investments and continuing to invest regularly.

Yes, InvestingPro offers a mobile app, ensuring users can access real-time data, analysis tools, and market news on the go. The app provides the same robust features as the desktop version.

InvestingPro offers various support channels, including email, live chat, and comprehensive online resources such as tutorials and FAQs. This support ensures users can get help when needed and maximize the platform’s benefits.

If you’re subscribed to specific Motley Fool services like Stock Advisor or Rule Breakers, portfolio updates occur weekly or monthly, depending on the service. It’s important to remember that Motley Fool also produces a large number of daily articles to help investors improve their knowledge of the market.

Yes, both platforms can be used for long-term investment strategies. The Investing.com AI’s predictive analytics and tailored recommendations are suitable for both short-term and long-term investment approaches, providing valuable insights over time. The Motley Fool stock investment philosophy is geared towards long-term investing even (or especially) during volatile periods.