Pros, Cons, and Research Insights

Researching stocks is a crucial part of the investment process. A stock screener like Stock Rover can provide more tools than your online broker. 

Some of the best features include in-depth analysis, portfolio tracking and analyst reports. I utilize stock screeners frequently and like the fundamental and technical research tools this platform offers.

This Stock Rover review can help you decide if it is worth the cost.

What is Stock Rover?

Stock Rover is a premium research tool offering these features:

• Stock screener
• ETF and stock
• Charting tools
• Expert-themed model portfolios
• Research reports
• Portfolio tracker

The fundamental and technical analysis tools can provide more information than most free investing apps. I find Stock Rover to have more fundamental research features than most stock screeners although it’s good for technical charting for stocks and funds too.

Paid subscribers can also find investment ideas using the service’s model portfolios. These guru portfolios recommend stocks using the investment strategies of successful investors.

Who Should Use Stock Rover?

Stock Rover is a good option for investors wanting to research individual stocks as well as ETFs and get more data and stock ratings than their online brokerage provides. Most brokers offer basic price charts and financial data but lack in-depth rating tools.

The robust stock screener and comparison features provided by Stock Rover can make it easier to find potential investments that fit your investment strategy.

You can perform fundamental and technical analysis on this platform. For the most part, it’s one of the best fundamental analysis tools.

This service can also be a research companion when using stock newsletters to add new portfolio positions.

I don’t think this is the best screener for traders who only use technical research. Additionally, it doesn’t integrate with online brokerages to submit trade orders directly from a stock chart.

Stock Rover Pricing

The platform has one free plan and three paid plans. New subscribers get a 14-day full access free trial to the highest-tier Premium Plus plan.

Free

Cost: $0

The Free tier offers basic research and portfolio tracking tools. However, it doesn’t offer advanced analysis tools or model investment ideas portfolios. 

Core free Stock Rover features include:

• Stock, ETF and mutual fund coverage
• Daily analyst ratings
• Market news for individual stocks
• Charting tools
• Portfolio tracking

This plan can be better than what a basic micro-investing app offers. 

These free research tools can be competitive with a traditional online brokerage like TD Ameritrade (now Schwab) or Fidelity.

Essentials

Cost: $7.99/month, $79.99/year or $139.99 for two years

Essentials is the cheapest of the three paid plans and is best for screening stocks but doesn’t provide in-depth ETF research. Choosing the best Stock Rover plan depends on how many screening metrics and advanced research tools you want to use.

There may also be a limit on how many times you can use a certain feature each month. Pricier plans may offer increased or unlimited access to alerts, stock ratings and more.

Key Essentials features include:

• 260+ stock screening filters
• Up to five years of historical data
• 6 chartable fundamental metrics
• Interactive stock comparison table
• Brokerage integration for portfolio tracking
• Text and email alerts
• Guru portfolios
• Dow 30 research reports

All paid plans include research reports for the companies in the Dow 30 index. Reports for the other 7,000+ stocks require an add-on purchase.

This plan doesn’t include as many stock screener customization tools as the other plans. Some examples are color-coded metrics and integrated note-taking. 

Premium

Cost: $17.99/month, $179.99/year or $319.99 for two years

The Premium plan can be better for active traders who want more advanced research tools and customization options. It also provides over 90 ETF screening metrics and hundreds of fundamental stock indicators. Consider this tier or Premium Plus for trading stocks and ETFs.

Plan benefits include:

• Over 350 screening metrics
• 10+ years of historical data
• 100+ chartable fundamental metrics
• Ranked stock screens
• Future dividend income projections
• Correlation analysis
• Trade planning and rebalancing tools
• Multi-monitor support
• Integrated research tools
• Mobile-optimized usability
• Ad-free platform

Accessing over one decade of historical data can be useful in researching how a stock performed in a previous market cycle. 

I also like the ranked screening feature that lists stocks and ETFs higher based on the weight you assign particular indicators.

The color-coded tagging and integrated notes are valuable customization tools. The ability to simulate trades is excellent as well. Most brokers don’t offer these features, with Webull being a rare exception.

Premium Plus

Cost: $27.99/month, $279.99/year or $479.99 for two years

Data junkies and highly active traders should consider Premium Plus. Joining Stock Rover lets you try this plan for the first 14 days at no extra cost. 

Some of the best benefits include:

• Over 650 metrics
• Unlimited quantitative stock ratings
• Unlimited investor warnings
• Can screen historical data and custom metrics
• Ratings for individual stocks
• Stock fair value and margin of safety metrics
• Screen ratio charts (i.e., simple moving average and Bollinger bands)

This plan offers more saved screens, portfolios and watchlists than the other plans. The various reports also display more data rows, among other benefits. 

The Premium Plus features are competitive with other full-service stock screeners. It arguably provides more fundamental research and custom indicators. However, its potential downsides include an extensive membership fee, no options research or one-click trading.

What Features Does Stock Rover Offer?

Stock Rover offers plenty of features that many investors may find useful. Here are some of the best research tools that Stock Rover offers. 

Stock Quotes

All users can get real-time price quotes for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. Stock Rover categorizes the data into different tabs that are relatively easy to navigate.

The stock quote lists these details:

• Company details
• News Headlines
• Analyst ratings
• Financial metrics

Users who opt for the pricier plans will see more details in the various tabs.

I also appreciate the ability to add quotes to stock screens to perform a comparative analysis between potential investments that meet your search criteria and others that land outside the box.

As a long-term investor, I really like the free stock warnings that indicate potential problems for fundamental investment strategies. In a recent quote, I had warnings for a high percentage of short shares and a high compensation percentage to executives instead of shareholders. I have also seen warnings for negative revenue growth and pessimistic fundamental stock ratings.

Stock Watchlists

In addition to creating your own stock and ETF watchlists, you can follow prebuilt lists.

Some of the watchlist examples include:

• Top 25 S&P 500 revenue growers
• Fifteen large REITs
• Top 25 ETFs by market cap
• Top 25 ETFs by volume
• Dogs of the Dow

I like using the curated lists to quickly find investment ideas or track the pulse of some of the most popular stocks and ETFs.

Guru Strategies

All paid users can access the Guru Strategies portfolios in the “Library” section. Guru portfolios show the largest holdings of many well-known professional investors.

Some of the guru portfolios include:

• Bill Ackman (Pershing Square)
• David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital)
• David Tepper (Appaloosa Management)
• Donald Yacktman (Yacktman Asset Management)
• Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway)

These portfolios can help individual investors see how the “smart money” is investing. You can quickly see which stocks may be the ideal portfolio positions.

I don’t rely exclusively on hedge funds, but it’s helpful seeing the strategies of momentum and contrarian money managers in one place. This information helps develop a bullish or bearish investment thesis.

Stock Screener

Stock Rover has one of the best stock screeners. You can add traditional financial and fundamental metrics like your brokerage screening tool.

As there are several hundred screening metrics, the platform can be overwhelming at first.

New and experienced investors can most likely find almost any filter they need. They can also save screens to quickly reference qualifying stocks in future searches.

It’s possible to look for stocks and funds trading on the US (Nasdaq and NYSE) and select foreign stock exchanges. 

Unfortunately, the free plan doesn’t include the stock screener, and you will need to rely on your brokerage or another platform to weed out bad investment ideas. With that said, I like that the screener can rank the search results using your preferred metrics to more easily find the best trading options in minimal time.

Custom Screens

This platform offers several customization options other premium screeners don’t offer. 

Some of the unique screening filters include:

• “Best of” lists
• Guru strategies
• Stock Rover ratings

For example, users can screen stocks that fit Warren Buffett’s strategy by using the “Buffettology” screen. 

It’s also possible to screen stocks by financial strength using metrics like the Piotroski F-Score or CAN SLIM.

Other screeners might have similar versions of the curated Stock Rover filters. Zacks Premium may rival Stock Rover with its premade screening lists.

Experienced investors can also build their own screening formula by adding premade criteria and writing a freeform equation. 

Compare Stocks and Funds

In addition to screening stocks, you can compare stocks and ETFs on your watchlist or recent quotes lists.

Some of the comparison factors are:

• Analyst estimates
• Balance sheet
• Dividends
• Profitability
• Returns vs. S&P 500
• Stock Rover ratings
• Valuation

The comparison table is similar to reading a Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet. You can add columns to research additional metrics. I find the customization features valuable and easy to use.

It’s also possible to add multiple stock, fund and index symbols to an interactive chart. Then, you may add technical and fundamental indicators to the comparison.

The customizable comparisons are one of my favorite reasons for using Stock Rover for investment research.

Charting

The Stock Rover charting tool is effective for visualizing fundamental and technical indicators after screening stocks. Hundreds of metrics are available depending on your plan option.

Users can expand the interactive chart into a full-screen view. It’s even possible to save charts as an image. 

The charting tool is easy to use and similar to most online brokerages offering in-depth charting tools. Most investors should find this feature pleasing. I like being able to chart and view in-depth data rows in the same place.

However, pricier stock screeners can be better for traders who rely heavily on technical data and want more real-time data. 

Here are some of the fundamental and technical indicators you can use. The platform can display the data in a variety of charts.

Valuation Charts

These are the charts you can use when analyzing fundamental metrics

• Price vs. Fundamental: Compare the current share price to a fundamental indicator
• Historical range: A 1, 2 or 3-year comparison of the company valuation for a specific indicator
• Football field: Compare the current valuation against its five-year range for several metrics at once with a horizontal bar chart.
• Scatter plot: Compare the several stock tickers for a specific metric

Each chart type helps you determine if the stock is fairly valued. The charts may also indicate undervaluation or overvaluation.

Technical Charts

The technical analysis charts can be similar to what your online brokerage offers. A variety of upper indicators appear in the same chart as the share price.

Lower indicators are also available that display underneath the share price chart.

Some of the available technical indicators include:

• Simple Moving Average (SMA)
• Exponential Moving Average (EMA)
• Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD)
• Relative Strength Indicator (RSI)
• Bollinger Bands
• Volume
• Money Flow Index
• Stochastic Oscillator

Other stock screeners are better for advanced technical analysis. However, this platform offers the most popular technical charts that will satisfy most non-professional investors. I find the technical capabilities excellent for people that usually rely on fundamental analysis.

Alerts

It’s possible to receive price and technical alerts by email and text when a designated stock share event occurs. 

These alerts can be helpful for short-term traders. Long-term investors can benefit as well if they’re waiting for the perfect setup before investing. 

Research Reports

All paid subscriptions provide research reports for the Dow 30 stock index. Research reports for other stocks cost $49.99 per year. 

Investors should see if their online brokerage provides similar third-party research reports to avoid this add-on cost. Platforms including Ally Invest, Schwab and Fidelity offer similar products. I recommend checking with your brokerage first to potentially save money.

One advantage of the Stock Rover research report feature is seeing their quantitative ratings that can help you grade the company’s health.

Each report compiles the many fundamental, technical and financial details that Stock Rover tracks. The document also lists ratings for similar stocks to determine if a competitor can be a better investment option.

Analyst Ratings

Seeing the total number of buy, hold and sell ratings from professional analysts can be a useful research gauge. 

Portfolio Management

Users can link to their brokerage accounts to track investment performance or manually input positions.

This feature makes it easy to perform these tasks:

• Track current holdings
• Estimate upcoming dividend income
• Measure portfolio risk
• Simulate portfolio rebalancing

The portfolio rebalancing tool can estimate your new asset allocation by sector and the total investment costs. 

Compatible Platforms

Most investment brokerages connect to Stock Rover using Yodlee. It takes up to 30 seconds to connect, and the service syncs your portfolio when you visit Stock Rover.

Micro-investing apps like Robinhood and M1 Finance as well as Acorns, are compatible platforms that you might use to invest your spare change. 

Investors using Interactive Brokers must email the brokerage and request a direct feed to Stock Rover. Other brokers sync effortlessly in most instances.

Below are the number of accounts users can link:

• Free: Two accounts
• Essentials: Two accounts
• Premium: Three accounts
• Premium Plus: Six accounts

Being able to connect accounts with a free subscription is a nice feature. Other stock screeners may only offer this feature for paid accounts.

Trade Evaluator

In addition to researching potential investments, the platform can track the performance of individual trades. This feature can provide more detailed metrics beyond what your brokerage reports for realized gains or losses.

Combining this feature with the future simulations, future income and rebalancing tools can optimize your portfolio performance. You need a Premium or Premium Plus subscription to gain access.

Correlation Analysis

Premium and Premium Plus subscribers can use the correlation analysis tool to find two investments with similar, opposite or neutral investment performance.

Traders may find a negative correlation between buying a long equity position in one stock and making money when the share price increases. They can also buy a short position in a second position to earn income if the share price drops.

Another option is looking for positive correlations. In this case, both positions are likely to rise or fall together. One example could be investing in gold bullion ETFs with the anticipation of increasing share prices.

Stock Ratings

Like other stock research tools, Stock Rover applies proprietary quantitative ratings to stocks. 

Some of the scores include:

• Fair share price value: What Stock Rover estimates the stock is worth
• Margin of safety: Difference between share price and fair value estimate
• Value score: Quality of current financial metrics and enterprise value
• Growth score: Odds the company continues to grow vs. past five years
• Quality score: Compares profitability and balance sheet metrics
• Sentiment score: If investors are bullish or bearish towards the stock
• Piotroski F-score: Company’s financial strength using nine criteria
• Altman Z-score: Probability the company may file for bankruptcy

These stock ratings are only available to paid subscribers. The more affordable Essentials plan may only be able to access these ratings for up to ten stocks per month.

The mid-tier Premium plan scores up to 20 stocks monthly, and the Premium Plus provides unlimited ratings.

Subscribers with a limited number of score ratings can request the scores on the stocks of their choice.

Stock ratings are one of my favorite reasons to use a stock screener. While I still perform my own research, they help highlight potential trades and quickly summarize the metrics for a particular strategy.

Investor Warnings

The Investor Warnings feature can also be useful in forecasting potential investment losses. Users will see a separate button when Stock Rover issues warnings for a stock.

Potential warnings may include declining sales growth or negative sales growth. Stock Rover applies a risk severity level of either low, medium or high.

Investing Ideas

The Investing Ideas feature includes a weekly stock pick like what the top investment sites might offer. 

This tool also features a weekly screener metric and lists stocks fitting the criteria. You can import the screener to quickly run a new screen in future searches. 

Investor Library

The Investor Library can be the quickest way to see the different screeners and portfolios the Stock Rover team produces. I utilize the articles and videos to incorporate the tools into my dashboard to use the service properly.

You can click on different labels, read a description, and see current investments matching the criteria.

The library lists these products:

• Screeners
• Portfolios
• Watchlists

Mobile Usability

Stock Rover doesn’t have a mobile app, but a mobile-friendly experience is available with the Premium and Premium Plus plans. I find it a lot easier to navigate the platform with the mobile experience instead of the desktop experience.

You will see the various research tools and dashboards on your screen. It’s easy to switch to different features with the buttons at the bottom of the screen. However, certain advanced features only remain available in the desktop version as they require a bigger screen.

Unfortunately, free and entry-level Essentials users can only access the desktop edition on a phone or tablet. You must hold your device horizontally in landscape mode. You can access many features but I find the layout as crowded and somewhat challenging to navigate. It’s worth upgrading to a higher plan if you primarily access this platform from your smartphone.

Is Stock Rover Easy to Use?

The Stock Rover platform is relatively easy to use and navigate, even with all the research features and customization options. I find it easy to filter fundamental and technical data along with the prebuilt lists.

Some features require right-clicking to see the various options available. Users can also expand windows and rearrange the layout. 

The service is similar to online brokerages that offer in-depth research tools. Experienced investors with some stock screening background may benefit the most from Stock Rover. 

Beginner investors may find the platform overwhelming at first because there is a lot of advanced information. Finviz may provide a better experience and offers several different research tools. However, Stock Rover offers more features overall.

Mid-tier and upper-tier subscribers can also enjoy a mobile-friendly experience from their phone or tablet browser. The mobile usability makes it easy to check stocks on the go and for people who don’t have regular access to a computer but want to enjoy powerful investment research tools.

Positives and Negatives

As with any platform you consider using, it’s important to understand the pros and cons before signing up. Here’s what you should keep in mind with Stock Rover.

Pros

• Powerful stock screener
• Interactive charting tool
• Multiple stock ratings
• Automatic portfolio tracking
• Mobile-friendly

Cons

• Numerous plan options can be confusing
• Research reports may not be worth the upgrade
• Platform layout can be confusing
• More fundamental than technical indicators

Frequently Asked Questions

You likely have some questions about Stock Rover that will determine whether or not you try the service. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions that may help.

Summary

Stock Rover can be a valuable research tool for investors wanting to screen stocks for a specific indicator or investment strategy. This platform offers many tools that are uncommon among brokerage platforms.

Consider taking advantage of the free 14-day trial to see if it’s the right platform for you.