Zacks Research Wizard Review

If you are an individual investor looking to boost your success in the market, it is vital that you find the right stock screening software. This way, you can have an easy time identifying the best companies to invest in.

One such tool is Zacks Research Wizard, a software program specially designed to screen stocks and backtest your strategies. We decided to do a thorough Zacks Research Wizard review so that you know what the program is all about.

In the end, you should be in a position to decide whether this service would be of any benefit to your daily trading in the stock market.

Have a read to find out.

What is Zacks Research Wizard?

This is a software program from Zacks Investment Research that has been in the business of providing crucial investment research for quite a while. It is designed to offer advanced stock screening and backtesting of trading strategies, plus it incorporates a bit of the firm’s research in the Zacks Rank.

It may not have the user-friendliest interface, but you are likely to appreciate its level of customization in addition to the wide range of parameters included in the screener.

An outstanding aspect of the program is that it allows you to either run a screen locally or online. This also applies to backtesting, whereby you can choose to download the database and run the backtest online or locally.

Key Features of The Program

There are numerous stock screening and backtesting programs in the market, all of which claim to be unique in one way or the other. This may make you wonder whether this particular service is right for you.

Therefore, we will have to look at its main features so that you can see what it is designed to offer.

1. Stock Screener

First of all, the main idea behind this program was to help investors have an easy time find the top stocks with the potential for long-term growth. So, it works around a stock screener packed with hundreds of parameters such as income statement components, dividends, EPS growth projections, and many others.

The main reason why the advanced traders with well-defined strategies appreciate this screener is due to the flexibility that it offers. This includes setting up mathematical expressions to combine numerous parameters into a single screener rule or comparing a parameter to the market or industry average.

Last but not least, you can save the screens to your computer so that you can load them for use and modification later on.

2. Analysis of the Screener Results

Once the screener results have been displayed, you can choose to go further and analyze them using heatmaps and scatter plots. 

An essential aspect of the heatmaps is that they are colored according to how the platform rates the stocks that appear on your screener results. If only they had been colored as per your screen parameters, they could have been useful in helping you pursue your trading strategy.

With the scatter plots, you can decide the parameters to plot on the X and Y axes. However, we found these plots somewhat tricky to use, especially when the screener results include many stocks. This is due to the points not being clearly labeled with ticker symbols.

However, there’s a positive whereby you can export the relevant data to create charts in another software such as Excel.

3. The Charting

With the platform’s charting capabilities, you can display any fundamental data that you wish. Some of the data items that you can chart include your stock’s sales, Net Margin, ROE, Cash Flow, EPS, P/E, and many others.

Even better is that you have the option of either charting one item at a go or layer as many items as you want. 

We were impressed that you can access historical data dating over 20-years. This will enable you to see how the item you are interested in has been trending over time and its impact on the stock’s price movement. 

With your data graphically visualized, it will not take you much time to make intelligent decisions.

4. Backtesting

The other vital aspect of this platform is that it allows you to backtest the screens you have created. Again, we noted that this process is relatively easier to accomplish on this platform than others that perform stock analysis.

This program will plot the outcome of your strategy against any benchmark that you choose, such as the S&P 500. In addition to that, it will also produce a daily, weekly, or monthly list of the contents and the virtual portfolio’s value.

5. Daily Picks

Here, the platform’s stock selection program will give you access to live picks from the service’s proven strategies. In addition, you will find handy formulas that you can use to find the best strategy on your own easily.

6. Stocks and Portfolio Ranking

Next, we shall show you how you can use Hot Maps and determine how attractive your stocks are. With these maps, you can graphically evaluate the level of attractiveness of the stocks in your portfolio, plus you can also assess the stocks on your screening lists.

In case you are wondering how the ranking is done, it is based on the colors, whereby green shades indicate the best while red sheds stand for the worst. This makes it easy for you to identify the best and worst companies without relying on guesswork.

As for the Scatter Plot, it allows you to plot the linear regression of any variables you want, and this will make the overall stock analysis easier. 

The Pricing

A subscription for this program costs $1,800 per year. However, before signing up for it, you could make use of the free two-week trial to familiarize yourself with its features. Further, this allows you to decide whether the program is worth the investment.

What Type of Trader is it Best For?

Zacks Research Wizard is best suited for self-motivated investors who are content with using the advanced screener to formulate their own strategies. Then, after coming up with the strategy, they can backtest them to be sure of their profitability.

All in all, this is a program that enables you to do your own research and then come to your own conclusions on the best companies to invest in.