In this article, I’ll review why Seeking Alpha Premium is worth the cost of membership. Though this review won’t be like most others you’ll find online, which list a bunch of features in fancy tables with not a lot of useful content.
Instead, this review will be from the perspective of an investor. And someone who actually uses the service to research, analyze, and hear others’ perspectives on stocks and the stock market.
- Seeking Alpha Contributor (Analyst)
- Speaking From Experience
- About Seeking Alpha
- Why Seeking Alpha Is Worth The Cost
- Drawbacks
- Popular Alternatives
- Bottom Line
DISCLAIMER: This article contains affiliate links for which I earn a small commission if you purchase a product or service after clicking the link. Please know that I only promote products or services in which I have personal experience and/or believe could add value to others.
Seeking Alpha Contributor (Analyst)
I first became familiar with Seeking Alpha after becoming a Contributor in 2022 (check out my review here).
As an investor, I greatly enjoy analyzing stocks, reading financial statements, listening to earnings calls, etc… so I began searching for an outlet for the hobby. That’s when I found Seeking Alpha, and learned I could get paid to write about stock market investing.
Being a Contributor has its perks. Not only do I get paid to do something I love, but I also get a free Seeking Alpha Premium membership, which costs $239 per year.
Speaking From Experience
I’ve been in the investing game for a number of years and have tried nearly all the reputable services, including:
- Seeking Alpha Premium
- Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investing Club (my review here)
- Motley Fool Stock Advisor (my review here)
- Investor’s Business Daily’s SwingTrader & Leaderboard
I also have a lot of experience with brokerages, namely:
- Fidelity (my comparison to TD Ameritrade here)
- TD Ameritrade (including the thinkorswim platform)
- E*Trade (I no longer use this one)
- Interactive Brokers (for international investing)
I’ve tried day trading, swing trading, trading on technicals, shorting stocks, and fundamental investing. You name it, I’ve tried it.
One thing I can say for certain – none of these services, brokerages, or strategies is an easy button to market-beating returns. Life’s not that easy.
Now more than ever, I’m convinced buy-and-hold investing is the true market-beating strategy. And the services listed above, including Seeking Alpha Premium, are tools in the investor’s toolbox and nothing more.
About Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha provides data and information like that of a typical brokerage firm, such as Fidelity and TD Ameritrade. Except users can’t buy stocks through Seeking Alpha’s platform. Seeking Alpha also provides articles and analysis on individual stocks and ETFs. This is where Contributors come into play.
Seeking Alpha operates a tiered membership platform. Meaning part of the content and features are free to users up to a certain number of views. Subscribers to the Basic (free) membership are limited on the number of articles they’re able to view on a daily basis.
Seeking Alpha also offers Premium and Pro plans which are paid subscriptions. The Premium plan costs $29 per month (or $239 per year) while the Pro plan costs $499 per year. Unless you’re a professional investor or money manager, the Premium subscription is plenty.
Why Seeking Alpha Is Worth The Cost
There are three primary reasons I believe Seeking Alpha Premium is worth the money:
- It provides all the information an investor needs in a one-stop-shop
- It provides articles, written from various perspectives, on stocks and the stock market
- Subscribers are able to converse with each other and authors
One-Stop-Shop
One of my favorite features of Seeking Alpha Premium is that it provides all the data and information I need in a one-stop-shop.
Prior to discovering Seeking Alpha, I had to visit 3+ sites to find what I needed. It was like stopping at Walmart for dog food, picking up eggs at Kroger, and buying milk from Dollar General. It simply wasn’t efficient.
But with Seeking Alpha, I can do all my shopping at a single store. Here’s an example of how I’d go about analyzing Lululemon Athletica (LULU).
Step 1: Review financial statements, which Seeking Alpha provides 10 years of data.
Step 2: Review profitability metrics such as gross margin and operating margin, which Seeking Alpha provides a lot more than that.
Step 3: Discover what Analysts are thinking about future revenue and earnings growth.
Step 4: Review valuation metrics to determine if a stock is over or undervalued.
Step 5: Read the latest 10K, earnings call transcript, and investor presentation (I love not having to go looking elsewhere for these).
Articles From Various Perspectives
While Seeking Alpha being a one-stop-shop is awesome, my favorite feature is the independently-written articles offering various points of view.
I love reading what other investors think about stocks I’m interested in. I especially enjoy reading articles which are bearish when I’m bullish, or bullish when I’m bearish. As hard as these may be to read because they challenge the status quo.
For me, reading articles which hold an opposite perspective than mine has been very beneficial.
When I’m bullish on a stock, with my own biases for why I believe it to be a good investment, I’m forced to reassess my thinking when an author publishes an article with a “Strong Sell” recommendation.
Yes, I also read articles that share the same opinion as me. But these are easy to read and reinforce what I already believe to be true. They don’t challenge me to think even deeper about my investments.
I suggest spending time reading articles that force you to re-evaluate your thesis, then see if your thesis is strengthened or weakened as a result.
Conversing With Authors & Subscribers
Now, if you’ve ever perused the comments on Yahoo Finance, you’ve probably noticed not much of what’s posted is constructive, enlightening, or educational. However, I’d say the quality of comments on Seeking Alpha is much better, and actually useful.
Subscribers are able to comment, ask questions, seek clarification, etc… on each article published on Seeking Alpha. As a Contributor myself, I always try to respond to questions and provide additional insight on my thinking and rationale.
Not all authors do this, but I’ve found the vast majority do. And it’s helpful in gaining additional insight into their line of thinking.
Also, subscribers tend to be quite constructive and provide valuable insight. Many subscribers even provide encouragement to Contributors which is nice to see.
Of course, there are still those who troll and post nothing but negativity, but Seeking Alpha moderators do a good job maintaining a congenial environment.
Drawbacks
I don’t have much to say about Seeking Alpha Premium that’s negative. After all, I wouldn’t recommend subscribing if I didn’t think it was worth the money. Only two drawbacks come to mind:
- Teaser articles published by Investing Groups
- Authors producing as many low quality articles as possible to increase earnings
Teaser Articles By Investing Groups
Seeking Alpha offers Investing Groups which, to join, require an additional monthly fee (from $15 to $200+ per month). These groups are run by an author(s) who’ve garnered a significant following on Seeking Alpha.
I actually like that Seeking Alpha offers these groups.
But when Investing Groups publish “public” articles available to Premium subscribers, it’s usually a teaser to entice users to subscribe to the group (can’t blame them for that).
Not that they’re low quality, but it’s possible one of your favorite authors runs an Investing Group, so you won’t have access to all their work unless you fork over additional cash to join. And depending on the author, joining may not be cheap.
Authors Posting Low Quality Articles To Boost Earnings
There are also authors on Seeking Alpha whose sole purpose is to publish as many articles as possible to boost earnings. Seeking Alpha subscribers often refer to these Contributors as “article farms.”
Typically, these authors produce low quality analysis with bare minimum content able to pass Seeking Alpha’s editorial standards. These types of Contributors usually don’t respond to commenters. They’re simply trying to churn out as many articles as possible.
Popular Alternatives
For interested investors, Seeking Alpha isn’t the only game in town. There are a handful of popular alternatives which strive to grant investors an edge up in their portfolios, including:
- Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investing Club – mostly short term holds and more trading (my review here)
- Motley Fool Stock Advisor – buy-and-hold strategy primarily focused on tech (my review here)
- Investor’s Business Daily – a strong focus on technical indicators and chart patterns with a bit of fundamentals sprinkled in
Each service, while similar in price, has its own philosophy, stock selection process, buy/sell criteria, etc… so be sure to review each before jumping in.
Bottom Line
Seeking Alpha Premium is a quality service that distinguishes itself from the crowd by offering authentic, independently-written articles from different perspectives. It’s a great tool for generating ideas, but also for challenging ideas you already have.
It’s a one-stop-shop for all information you need to analyze a stock, including: 10 years of financial statements, valuation metrics, growth & profitability metrics, charting, investor presentations, earnings call transcripts, SEC filings, and much more.
And at $239 per year (with a 14 day free trial if you use this link), it’s well worth the money.
