Stock recommendation services are popular shortcuts that help millions of investors make educated decisions without having to spend hours of time doing research.
But just like, say, a driving shortcut, the quality of stock recommendations can vary widely—and who you’re willing to listen to largely boils down to track record and trust.
If you knew someone had a bad sense of direction, you wouldn’t heed their advice on getting to the store, and all you’d be risking there is a few extra minutes of your time. So you certainly shouldn’t entrust your entire retirement to services that can’t recommend their way out of a paper bag.
The natural question, then, is “Which services are worth a shot?”
Today, we’re going to explore some of the best (and best-known) stock recommendation services. Our goal today is highlighting not just quality, but variety—after all, some investors might be looking for stock tips and nothing else, while other investors want to receive recommendations but also use tools to find their own opportunities.
Should You Use Expert Stock Picks?
Signing up to receive expert stock picks can be a worthwhile use of your money, as long as you know what you’re getting into.
I’ve worked in the financial publishing space, in one role or another, for more than a decade now. And I can tell you from my experiences studying the competitive landscape: Stock recommendation services in general have an image problem—for pretty good reason.
At their low points, marketing for stock-picking newsletters and services blurs the line between reality and fiction. Promises of impossible short-term gains and/or vanishingly thin risks. Cherry-picked returns to cover up long-term underperformance. Customers, thankfully, are smart enough not to put up with it for long—poor products rack up hours of angry calls and sky-high cancellation rates.
Still, even a few mere months with a poor stock picking service can severely dent your nest egg. So, if you can, it’s better to avoid the hucksters outright and home in on services that have already proven their worth over time.
Who Should Use Stock Picking Services?
In short: Stock recommendation services are ideal for people who want to invest in individual stocks but might not have the time to do all of the requisite research themselves.
If I’m being honest, the high-percentage play for most people is to buy a few index funds and keep buying until you retire. They’re cheap. They’re diversified. And more often than not, they beat professional stock pickers.
But owning individual stocks has some merit, too.
For one, if you want to outperform the market, individual stocks give you the best shot at doing it. You could try to beat the S&P 500 by investing in a different index, but ultimately, any index is just a group of stocks—where the best performers are weighed down by the returns of the worst performers. But if, against the odds, you make the right pick, you’ll generate far better returns by holding a much larger position in that stock than you could by owning a smaller percentage through mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Also, individual stocks keep people mentally invested. I’ve written about ETFs for 12 years now, and while I love them, I know they’re boring. They do their job, nothing more, nothing less. But individual stocks are tied to individual companies, and companies excite people. Think about how many stories you’ve read about companies like Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Tesla (TSLA) because of the exciting products they produce.
Heck, even boring companies can whip up people’s heart rates—I can’t tell you how many emails I fielded back at InvestorPlace from people who just wanted to vent about their hatred for General Electric (GE).
Point is: Even if your portfolio is mostly diversified funds, owning a few individual stocks might keep you more interested in investing. And if that gets you to pile more money into your IRA or brokerage account, that’s a win.
Stock Recommendation Services—Our Top Picks
|
Best Service for Buy-and-Hold Investors
|
Best Service for Stock Picks + Data Services
|
Best Multi-Strategy Stock Picking Service
|
Best Data-Driven Stock Picking Service
|
|
4.7
|
4.8
|
4.7
|
4.3
|
|
$99/yr.*
|
7-day free trial. Premium: $214/yr.*
|
$319/yr.*
|
10% discount: $449/yr.*
|
Best Stock Recommendation Services
Now, let’s do a service-by-service look at some of the best values in stock-picking subscriptions:
1. Motley Fool Stock Advisor (Best Buy-and-Hold Stock Recommendations)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Investors who want long-term stock picks
The Motley Fool’s signature product, Stock Advisor, aims to provide you with one thing: top picks for market-beating stocks from their expert team of analysts.
Of the two featured services offered by The Motley Fool (the other is Epic, which we’ll get to in a moment), Stock Advisor is my pick of the bunch if you want consistent performance with less volatility. And it espouses my favorite, plain-vanilla trading style: buy-and-hold.
The investment newsletter and service sends recommendations for “Steady Eddies” and potential high-flying stocks the service believes provide financially sound fundamentals.
Preferring to stick with companies that outperform steadily over time, Stock Advisor offers stock picks with investment rationales, research, and information to educate you about your investments.
How has Motley Fool Stock Advisor performed?
Stock Advisor stock picks have performed exceptionally well over the service’s 22-year existence. The service has made 175 stock recommendations that have historically delivered 100%+ returns, multiplying members’ net worth several times over.
Overall, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor stock subscription service has returned 671% through April 8, 2024, since its inception in February 2002. This number is calculated by averaging the return of all stock recommendations it has made over the past 22 years. Comparatively, the S&P 500 Index has returned 152% over that same time frame.
What to expect from Motley Fool Stock Advisor
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor service provides a lot of worthwhile resources to subscribers.
- “Starter Stocks” recommendations to serve as a foundation to your portfolio, whether you’re a new investor or experienced
- Two new stock picks each month
- 10 “Best Buys Now” chosen from more than 300 stocks the service watches
- Investing resources with the stock picking service’s library of stock recommendations
- Access to community of investors engaged in outperforming the market and talking shop
The service charges a discounted rate for the first year and has a 30-day membership-fee-back guarantee. Consider signing up for Stock Advisor today, or read more in our Motley Fool Stock Advisor review.
- Motley Fool Stock Advisor is a stock service that provides recommendations for both "steady Eddie" and high-flying stocks, as well as a few ETFs for investors who want diversified holdings, too.
- Just getting started? Stock Advisor provides 10 "Foundational Stocks" you can use to anchor your portfolio.
- You're not alone! Stock Advisor membership also gives you access to a community of investors who also want to outperform the market and love talking shop.
- Enjoy access to GamePlan: Motley Fool's financial planning hub, which includes advice on personal finances, taxes, retirement, and more, as well as calculators and other financial tools.
- Limited-Time Offer: Get your first year with Stock Advisor for $99 (vs. $199 usual value)—a 50% discount for new members!
- Discounted introductory price
- Strong outperformance above S&P 500
- High overall average return for stock picks
- High renewal price
- Not every stock is a winner
Related: How to Get Free Stocks for Signing Up: 8 Apps w/Free Shares
2. Seeking Alpha Premium (Best for Stock Recommendations + Data Services)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Investors who want picks and data
Seeking Alpha Premium caters to intermediate and advanced investors looking for an affordable, all-inclusive, one-stop shop for their investing needs.
The free Seeking Alpha site itself has more than 16,000 active contributors sharing stock analysis. In-house editors vet these pieces before they’re read and discussed by millions of people. Reading different opinions about the same stock helps investors develop their own informed opinions on the likelihood a stock will rise or fall. (I recommend this approach when learning how to research stocks.)
SA also offers stock research tools, real-time news updates, crowdsourced debates, and market data. Users can create their own portfolio of favorite stocks, see how they perform, and receive email alerts or push notifications about their investments.
However, while the basic SA website has a significant amount of information, several more powerful features remain reserved for the Premium Plan and Pro Plan members.
Seeking Alpha Premium
With a Seeking Alpha Premium subscription, you will enjoy unparalleled access with an ad-lite user experience.
SA Premium is an all-in-one investing research and recommendation service that offers insightful analysis, financial news, stock research, and more—all designed to help you make better investing decisions.
Seeking Alpha Premium can help you manage your stock portfolio by putting you in touch with a large investing community—one that can help you research stocks and understand the financial world and provide you with ideas for your next great investment.
Premium plan members can see the ratings of authors whose articles they read. (After all, it’s useful to know whether you’re reading the opinion of someone with a top record, or someone who’s whiffing a lot.) And Premium subscribers unlock analyses from SA-designated “experts.”
Among the other benefits:
- A stock screener that lets you filter by average analyst rating
- Earnings conference call transcripts
- 10 years’ worth of financial statements
- Ability to compare stocks side-by-side with peers
- Access to dividend and earnings forecasts
How has Seeking Alpha Premium performed?
SA’s Premium subscription provides full access to the service’s Stock Quant Ratings. These are collections of the best (to the worst)-rated stocks according to three independent investment resources provided on Seeking Alpha’s website. These cross checks and validations come from: (1) the Seeking Alpha Quant Model, (2) independent SA contributors, and (3) Wall Street analysts. The list of best stock recommendations gets further vetted by quantitative and fundamental analysis.
Look at the dramatic market outperformance seen by these quant-fueled “Strong Buy” stock picks as compared to the S&P 500 (total return with dividends reinvested):
Check out our Seeking Alpha Premium review to learn even more.
Seeking Alpha Pro
A Seeking Alpha Pro subscription includes all of the features offered by Seeking Alpha Premium, then packs on additional services, such as:
- The Top Ideas recommendation list
- Exclusive newsletter subscriptions and interviews
- VIP Editorial Concierge
- Seeking Alpha Pro stock screener for investing ideas
- A completely ad-free experience
In short: The Pro tier, which is geared toward professional investors, is more expensive than the Premium tier—but it comes with more goodies.
Why subscribe to Seeking Alpha?
Seeking Alpha distills relevant financial information for you so you don’t have to—making it easy for anyone interested in self-directed investing to have a chance at outperforming the market.
Consider starting a subscription to take advantage of SA’s Premium services and see if they make sense for your needs.
- Seeking Alpha has the world's largest investing community.
- Seeking Alpha Premium helps you find profitable investing ideas, improve your portfolio, research stocks better and faster as well as track the news to find investing opportunities.
- Receive up to 15 investing newsletters filled with stock research and analysis, commentary and recommendations.
- Use Seeking Alpha Premium's Seeking Alpha Stock Ratings to find stocks likely to outperform and make you money.
- Seeking Alpha Premium's proprietary quant records have an impressive track record leading to massive market outperformance.
- Special offer: New subscribers receive a $25 discount off the price of Seeking Alpha Premium in their first year.
- Active community of engaged investors and analysts
- Stock screeners, quantitative tools for stock analysis
- Strong track record of market outperformance on stock ratings
- Minimal mutual fund coverage
Related: Best Seeking Alpha Alternatives [Competitors’ Sites to Consider]
3. Motley Fool Epic: Best for Investors of All Stripes
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Discounted price for the first year (shown below)
Motley Fool Epic … well, it’s actually not a stock-picking service. It’s four of them, as well as a few other powerful investing features, all wrapped into one.
Epic is a bundled selection of four popular Motley Fool stock recommendation products: Stock Advisor, Rule Breakers, Hidden Gems, and Dividend Investor. Epic members can access all active recommendations; view Cautious, Moderate, and Aggressive strategies (including specific stock allocations), and will receive five new picks per month from across the four services.
Here’s a closer look at all four services that make up Epic:
Stock Advisor
Stock Advisor is an online investment service that espouses my favorite, plain-vanilla trading style: buy-and-hold. Fool analysts provide recommendations for both “Steady Eddies” and potential high-flying stocks with sound fundamentals—an ideal combination of holdings if you want to generate strong performance without risking extremely high volatility. (Note: You can subscribe to Stock Advisor individually.)
Rule Breakers
Rule Breakers recommends stocks that have massive growth potential, whether they’re at the forefront of emerging industries or disrupting the status quo in long-established businesses. These businesses tend to be in the technology sector or are otherwise “technology-influenced,” and are often selected for their potential to disrupt other companies or entire industries.
Hidden Gems
Hidden Gems will introduce you to medium-to-large businesses selected by Fool CEO and co-founder Tom Gardner for their “all-in, visionary leadership teams.” More so than the other services, Hidden Gems is mindful of macroeconomic and market environments—and how they might dictate how aggressively you should invest.
Dividend Investor
Dividend Investor revolves around exactly what you’d expect: dividend stocks. Fool analysts target companies that deliver above-average yields and dividend growth. They also have a specific goal for recommendations to deliver a total return (price gains plus dividends) of 7% + the rate of inflation. The idea? “A 7% annual return doubles the value of an investment over 10 years. If inflation is included, that means an investor in our average recommendation should double his or her real purchasing power every 10 years.” All in all, then, Dividend Investor picks are expected to produce both competitive total returns and an income stream that should carry you through retirement.
Additional Epic Benefits
But Epic is more than just a pile of recommendation services. Among other features, an Epic membership also unlocks access to:
- Fool IQ+: Fool IQ, which comes with Stock Advisor, provides essential financial data and news summaries about all U.S.-listed publicly traded stocks. With Epic, you get Fool IQ+, which includes all the features in Fool IQ, as well as a much wider variety of financial analysis data (earnings coverage, insider trading data, analyst opinions, and more) and advanced charting options.
- GamePlan+: GamePlan is a hub for retirement and financial planning. It includes exchange-traded fund (ETF) rankings; portfolio strategies (including stock, ETF, and mutual fund picks) with allocation recommendations; content about a variety of financial topics such as taxes, estate planning, and everyday finances; and a variety of tools, such as credit card interest and mortgage calculators. GamePlan is available when you sign up with Stock Advisor. However, GamePlan+, which you get through Epic, delivers a wider array of articles and tools, as well as more in-depth coverage.
- Epic Opportunities: A members-only podcast from Motley Fool.
You can learn more by reading our Epic review, or sign up today at Motley Fool.
- Motley Fool's Epic is a discounted combination of four foundational stock-investing services rolled up into one membership.
- Get access to more than 300 recommendations, reports, and analyses across the Stock Advisor, Rule Breakers, Hidden Gems, and Dividend Investor services.
- Get at least five new stock recommendations every month,
- Membership also unlocks GamePlan+ financial planning content and tools, Fool IQ+ stock research tool, a members-only podcast, and more.
- Limited-Time Offer: Get your first year with the Epic for $319 (vs. $499 usual value)—a 36% discount for new members!*
- Discounted introductory price
- Strong outperformance compared to the S&P 500
- High overall average return for stock picks
- Diversified array of recommendations for investors targeting growth, income, or both
- Additional value from GamePlan financial planning content and tools
- High renewal price
- Not every stock is a winner
Related: Motley Fool Epic Review
4. Seeking Alpha’s Alpha Picks (Best Data-Driven Stock Recommendation Service)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Investors who want medium-term stock picks
Seeking Alpha’s Alpha Picks is a stock selection service that provides you with two of the best stock picks each month that SA determines have the greatest chance for price upside. They base their selections on fundamentals such as valuation, growth, profitability, and momentum—not hype.
The stock selection process relies on Seeking Alpha’s proprietary, data-driven computer scoring system to screen and recommend stocks for more conservative “buy-and-hold” investors.
And if results from their backtest (run from 2010 to 2022) are any indication, historical simulations of the methodology behind their strategy prove it has worked: Alpha Picks’ recommendations outperformed the S&P 500 Index by 180 percentage points (+470% for SA vs. +290% for the S&P 500).
A bit more detail about how this works: Alpha Picks relies on the existing Seeking Alpha Quant model available to Seeking Alpha Premium and Pro users, but with a bit of modification. Namely, all recommendations must meet the following criteria:
- Hold a Strong Buy Quant rating for a minimum of 75 days
- Market cap greater than $500 million
- Stock price greater than $10
- Is a publicly traded common stock (no American Depository Receipts [ADRs])
- Be the highest-rated stock at the time of selection that has not been previously recommended within the past year (Alpha Picks releases one pick at the start of the month, another in the middle)
If you sign up for the service, you can expect the following:
- Two long-term stock picks to buy and hold for at least two years, delivered every month
- Detailed explanations from Seeking Alpha behind why they rate each stock pick so highly
- Notifications when a recommendation changes
- Regular updates on current Buy recommendations
The service, designed for busy professionals interested in building a portfolio that outpaces the market but without the time to commit to finding these opportunities, is worth considering. If you’re interested, you can sign up for a discounted first-year price of $449.
- Seeking Alpha's Alpha Picks is a stock picking service designed for busy professionals who might not have the time needed to select stocks for their own portfolio.
- Using a proprietary computer-scoring model, Alpha Picks makes "buy-and-hold" picks that last at least two years.
- Since its launch in 2022, Alpha Picks has delivered market-beating performance, with a remarkable 105% increase compared to the S&P 500's 33%.
- Rigorous backtesting also has shown Alpha Picks' methodology would have strongly outperformed the S&P 500 index between 2010 and 2022 (+470% vs. +290%).
- Special Offer: Receive 10% off the first year's subscription price by signing up via our link.
- Data-driven, computer-generated stock selection process
- Avoids human bias
- Strong backtest performance vs. S&P 500 index
- Competitive price point
- Not enough actual performance data
- No frills, just stock picks and info about them
Related: 17 Best Investment Apps and Platforms [Free + Paid]
5. Zacks Investment Research (Stock Picks, Rankings + Data)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Investors who want picks and data
Zacks Investment Research is a subscription-based stock recommendation and data service that you can use to improve your own due diligence or lean on for stock selection.
The investment research site has a free side that provides general market data and information about the financial markets and business news. One of its popular features is the Bull and Bear of the Day, where the service selects two stocks and rates them as a Bull (strong buy) or Bear (strong sell) pick.
However, the Zacks Premium service unlocks access to:
- Focus List portfolio of long-term stock picks
- The Zacks #1 Rank List to develop your investment strategies
- Custom stock screener
- A Portfolio Tracker that provides constant monitoring of your stocks to help you decide if you should buy, hold, or sell.
- Equity research reports and more
- Investors looking for stock recommendations should home in on the Focus List—a tight group of 50 long-term stock picks that Sheraz Mian, Zacks’ Director of Research, has singled out because of their exceptional earnings momentum. And every Monday, Mayur Thaker, a Zacks Stock Strategist, sends out the Weekly Market Analysis email detailing why stocks have been added or pulled from the Focus List.
If you want even more firepower, Zacks Investor Collection provides access to Zacks Premium and other services, including ETF Investor and Stocks Under $10. You can try the service for 30 days for just $1. After that, it’s $59/mo. or discounted to $495/yr. if paid upfront.
Investors who desire even more information can get Zacks Ultimate. This plan provides even more exclusive services, including Black Box Trader, Blockchain Innovators, Marijuana Innovators, Options Trader, and more. After a $1 30-day trial, Zacks Ultimate costs $299/mo. or $2,995/yr.
- Zacks Investment Research offers several research products to provide the information subscribers want to know about market opportunities
- Features include: Zacks #1 Rank List, Industry Rank List, Premium Screens, Focus List, Research Reports, Earnings ESP Filter, Zacks #5 Rank List
Related: Zacks vs Motley Fool: Which Stock Picking Service is Better?
6. AAII Dividend Investing (Best Dividend Stock Recommendation Service)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Dividend growth investors
AAII’s Dividend Investing does all the income investment due diligence work for you. With their proprietary stock-screening and picking process, AAII targets stocks that combine yield and asset quality.
The service also analyzes the company’s management team to make sure it is committed to dividend payouts—not just for today, but for tomorrow as well.
AAII Dividend Investing features include:
- Model portfolio of 24 dividend stocks, hand-picked for traits such as long profit and dividend-growth histories, free cash flow generation, attractive valuations, and more
- Weekly commentary
- Monthly portfolio reports
- Quarterly “ask me anything” events with DI’s lead analyst
- Access to AAII’s dividend investing grader
You’ll also gain access to other AAII benefits, including weekly stock ideas based on the company’s proprietary screens, a monthly AAII Journal that includes actionable analysis, weekly webinars, and entry into an interactive community where you can learn from experts and peers alike. (And something I think sets AAII apart from a lot of its competition: It releases an annual tax guide that helps you make tax-smart investing decisions.)
If you’re looking for a stock recommendation service with an income tilt, start your full 30-day trial for just $2.
- Use AAII's Dividend Investing newsletter to build a portfolio of dividend-growth stocks that yield more than the market average.
- DI model portfolio stocks are selected based on earnings and dividend histories and projections, cash flow generation, valuation, and more.
- Also enjoy weekly commentary, monthly portfolio reports, AMAs with DI's lead analyst, and more.
- Service unlocks access to other AAII features, including a monthly AAII Journal, weekly stock ideas, and entry into an interactive online community.
Related: 8 Best Stock Portfolio Tracking Apps [Stock Portfolio Trackers]
How to Pick a Stock That Aligns With Your Investing Goals
When you start investing, you need to have a little psychological self-check. Think about why you’re investing, and what kind of investor you want to be.
So, ask yourself: Are you investing your money to grow it a little before you buy a car next year, or are you saving for your retirement decades down the road? Does the thought of risk make you want to vomit and stop investing entirely, or are you OK with knowing that you could face big ups and downs. Answers to questions like these will help determine what kinds of stocks you’ll be most comfortable with.
A few big, broad categories of stocks you’ll need to know:
Growth Stocks
Growth stocks are companies that are expanding their profits and sales at a steady clip. Typically, growth stocks are firms that have either an attractive product they are bringing to new markets or a steady drumbeat of new items they can sell to existing customers to open up new revenue streams. Technology companies are typically the most common example of growth stocks, as they bring new gadgets to market that are better or faster than previous products.
Growth stocks are best suited for investors who want high capital appreciation (stock gains) and are OK with some risk.
Value Stocks
Value stocks, on the other hand, are companies that might not be expanding rapidly but have a strong underlying business. Think of a local bank or a utility company that might have trouble doubling in size over the next few years, but doesn’t face a lot of competition or disruption to its business model. These kinds of companies are often more stable thanks to the underlying value of their businesses.
Value stocks tend to be less volatile than their more growth-oriented counterparts, though their potential for growth is generally smaller.
Dividend Stocks
Dividend stocks (which commonly are value stocks, but can be growth stocks) are a great way to drive high long-term performance. These companies pay a regular flow of their profits directly back to shareholders, meaning you receive some sort of return regardless of the ebb and flow of share prices.
Over a long period of time, that one-two punch of dividends and capital appreciation is a powerful builder of wealth.
Here’s a look at the return someone could expect if they received just the price returns from the S&P 500 over the past 25 years:
Now look at how much better the return is when you factor in dividends (had you had reinvested those dividends back into the S&P 500):
The price return is about 4.5x. The total return (price plus dividends) is more than 7x!
Market Capitalization
For some investors, size matters, too.
Company size is typically measured by “market capitalization,” which is the number of outstanding shares multiplied by the share price. So, for instance, a company with 1 billion shares worth $10 each would be worth $10 billion. And, broadly speaking, companies of certain sizes have certain characteristics:
- Small-cap stocks ($2 billion or less): Small companies tend to either be very young, or if they’ve been around for a while, serve very niche markets. A small-cap stock might derive most if not all of its revenue from just one product or service, meaning any disruption to that offering can materially affect the business. Because of that risk, these companies can struggle to get financial backing when it’s needed—and if they succeed, it could be expensive to pay off. This all makes smaller stocks riskier and more volatile. The tradeoff? High growth potential. The company’s offerings typically haven’t reached full saturation, and they have the potential to bring many more products and services to life.
- Large-cap stocks ($10 billion or more): Large companies tend to be more established, mature companies with multiple revenue streams—thus, if one of their products or services sees weak demand, they might struggle, but other products and services should keep them afloat. Bigger companies typically have better and cheaper access to capital (say, taking out a loan or issuing bonds). As a result, their stock prices are more stable. However, large-cap stocks also have less growth potential. As the saying goes: “It’s easier to double from $1 million in sales than it is to double from $1 billion.” And it’s true.
- Mid-cap stocks ($2 billion-$10 billion): Like with Goldilocks and the three bears, the middle is just right for many investors. Mid-cap stocks typically enjoy characteristics of their larger and smaller cousins. They have more growth potential than larger companies, but less risk and better access to capital than small-cap stocks. Just consider this nugget from Hennessy Funds (emphasis ours):
“In any given 1-year rolling period since 2000, small-, mid-, and large-cap stocks have outperformed 33%, 31%, and 36% of the time. However, the longer mid-cap stocks are held, the more often they outperformed. In fact, 64% of the time, mid-caps outperformed small- and large-cap stocks over any 10-year rolling period in the past 20 years.“
Do Stock Recommendations Include Advice to Buy and Sell Stocks?
Yes, indeed, they do. Stock picking services typically don’t just tell you when to buy stocks—they tell you when to sell them, too.
You’d expect this from short-term trading services, where the goal is to lock in gains after a few months, weeks, or even days. But even long-term stock recommendation services discuss not just when to buy, but when to sell. That’s because even great companies—those you might plan on holding for decades—can take material turns for the worse, and blindly holding on to them will cripple your returns.
Do Stock Recommendation Services Only Suggest Publicly Traded Companies?
Largely speaking, yes. Stock-picking services, as the name suggests, specialize in stocks—and by and large, most people can only buy and sell publicly traded stocks.
Some alternative investment platforms will help investors pick out privately held assets, but those aren’t stock recommendation services.
