TheStreet Review – News and Tips from Wall Street
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For basic financial news, TheStreet provides plenty, and then some. Readers can get overwhelmed by the amount of free news, though that may be preferable to some people. It also offers a lot of commentaries, analysis, stock picks, and other information so users can hopefully make some real money as investors.
9/10
Cost
8.5/10
Ease of Use
9/10
Features
8.5/10
Add-ons
8/10
I’m not a big fan of Jim Cramer. If you have to yell as much as Cramer does, it just looks like you’re not confident in what you’re screaming about.
His Mad Money show on CNBC looks and sounds like a carnival barker trying to get you to the ring toss table. But instead of winning a giant stuffed teddy bear, his overconfidence in stock picks is trying to help you get a big profit in the stock market.
TheStreet, a financial news and research website that Cramer helped start but no longer works for, seems similar in its chase for paying customers, though at a much higher cost for its investment research than a try at a carnival prize. Cramer’s yelling habit, however, must be embedded in the site’s DNA, with ads and information overload dominating the site.
TheStreet (and yes, it’s one word) offers lots of information on Wall Street and how to navigate the stock market, but the site can be overwhelming with information and popup ads.
Its premium content can be incredibly expensive. It has merged most of its plans, and the single subscription has become costlier.
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What is TheStreet?
TheStreet was co-founded in 1996 by Jim Cramer and Marty Peretz and became a public company in 1999. It was acquired by TheMaven (again, two words combined into one) in 2019 for $16.5 million. TheStreet is a subsidiary of The Arena Group.
The site offers the latest news and information on investing, personal finance, retirement, the financial markets, cryptocurrency, and technology. For example, the “Markets” page has real-time market data on the U.S. market indexes. The website also has stock screeners, stock research, trading ideas, and analyst ratings, among other services, though some are only available through a paid subscription.
Jim Cramer is a TV personality and was the face of TheStreet for years, with regular bylines on the website. He was chairman of TheStreet from 2008 to 2011. But in September 2021, he left the company he helped build and worked full-time for CNBC, where he hosts a TV show.
But even with Cramer and his byline gone, TheStreet still quotes him almost daily in its stories, including written recaps of his views on his Mad Money show.
TheStreet’s website still has a Jim Cramer vibe to it. It’s frustrating to wade through with ads and videos screaming at you from every direction. Popup ads appear everywhere on every page or story we click on.
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How does TheStreet work?
Going through much of TheStreet’s website is free if you only want to read real-time news stories and see what happened in the stock market today. But you’ll have to pay for its premium content, which we’ll review soon. The extra features can be worthwhile to stock traders who want investment research, stock picks, and other market data to help with their investment decisions.
Starting at the site’s home page, click the red “Subscribe” button in the upper right corner.
From there, you’ll be taken to its Premium Subscriptions page. It is a plan known as TheStreet Pro.
Click on the red “Get TheStreet Pro” button to go to a signup page for the product.
You’ll be asked to choose your plan. TheStreet Pro plan costs $984 for one year, paid in advance. You can also buy it at $99 per month, which works out to $1,188 for 12 months.
After you enter your email address, it will ask for your billing information and credit card number. Subscriptions automatically renew unless you call to cancel. You can cancel anytime.
How much does TheStreet cost?
If the free articles and market data aren’t enough, you can try out the premium content for 14 days. The majority of its previous plans have been merged into one, which is now known as TheStreet Pro. This requires going through the above sign-up process, including providing your credit card number. The Pro plan starts at $99 per month, and you can cancel anytime. Again, you’ll have to call the company’s customer service line to cancel.
Retirement Daily
The Retirement Daily subscription includes financial strategies for retirement planning, tips for living well in retirement, the latest news on retirement issues, and retirement expert Bob Powell answering reader questions.
Cost: $100 per year or $30 per month.
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- Over 100 Stock Picks with 100%+ Returns
- Averaged Stock Pick Return over 593% (vs. 165% for the S&P)
- 2 New Stock Picks Every Month
- Investment Community With 700,000+ Loyal Members
- 30-Day Membership-Fee-Back Guarantee
- Joy Wallet Reader Deal: The Motley Fool is offering 50% off its top stock-picking service for new members (Limited Time)
TheStreet features
The latest news
One of the best features of TheStreet is its coverage of financial news. This includes the latest news in breaking stories, features, and stock market data. All of this is free, as it is on some news websites.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that TheStreet overwhelms readers with so much information that it’s difficult to separate the good from the boring.
It also has lots of advertising. Just clicking on a short story about an Apple stock alert meant I had to close popup ads and a video that kept playing on the side. Ads block parts of the screen no matter what you do, including paid subscribers. Some reviewers have complained about sitting through boring video ads as annual subscribers and being unable to turn them off.
Investment research
Most of the investment research on TheStreet requires a subscription. Whether that’s worth hundreds of dollars a year, or even $1,000 or more, depends on whether you can return that investment in your stock picks. Other investment research websites offer similar information for much less money. A monthly subscription or two-week free tryout may be a good way to check out TheStreet’s investment research.
Subscribers also get access to stock market research such as:
- Real-time trade alerts, including when a stock is upgraded or downgraded
- Recommendations for stock picks
- Market data
- Stock valuations
- Watchlists
- Analyst ratings
- Investment ideas, such as real estate
- Research reports
- Stock screener
- Trading ideas
Analysis
Getting market data in your hands is one thing, but understanding it is another. The premium plan from TheStreet includes expert analysis, including analyst ratings and fundamental analysis to help users understand what’s behind its stock picks.
This information can be valuable if it gives you insights you can’t get anywhere else. The best way to see if TheStreet gives you insightful and helpful analysis in your personal finance decisions is to try one of its subscriptions for a few weeks and then cancel it if it doesn’t meet your needs.
Who is TheStreet best for?
You want a lot of information. One of the best things about TheStreet is that it provides a wealth of information, and much of it is free. Information on picking stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and other investments requires a subscription, but the news articles on the site are free to read. There are so many of them that you could spend hours on the site every day and still have more to read.
You want expert opinions. Expert opinions on trading ideas are free, but most news and advice from Wall Street professionals require a subscription. Commentaries, real-time trading forums, daily market analysis, Q&As with experts, and other forms of opinion are a big part of the site.
Who shouldn’t use TheStreet?
You don’t want information overload. A lot of stories to read can be good, but it can also be overwhelming. Too many choices can cause you to freeze in making decisions, including deciding which top stocks to buy depending on your investment strategy. The stories and the data that TheStreet provides can be too much for some individual investors. Never-ending ads are also popping up, which can be incredibly annoying.
You don’t want to pay so much for stock advice. Compared to other investment research websites, TheStreet is one of the most expensive. You might want to look elsewhere if you are unwilling to pay $984 for this service.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Daily traders who like Jim Cramer’s style of stock recommendations may like TheStreet’s style of blaring out the news with never-ending popup advertisements and more than enough stories to read to fill their day.
- A free 14-day trial for most premium content is offered and you can cancel anytime.
Cons
- Jim Cramer no longer works for TheStreet, which can be a blessing or a detraction, depending on your view. Cramer doesn’t write anymore for the site he co-founded, but his TV show Mad Money is recapped and his stock picks are still reported on at TheStreet.
- Subscriptions are expensive at $984 a year.
- Most of the premium content requires a subscription.
- Canceling a subscription requires calling a customer service line and can’t be done online.
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- Averaged Stock Pick Return over 593% (vs. 165% for the S&P)
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- 30-Day Membership-Fee-Back Guarantee
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TheStreet vs. competitors
Here’s a quick look at how TheStreet stacks up against investment research companies Morningstar and The Motley Fool Stock Advisor.
TheStreet vs. Morningstar vs. Motley Fool
Stock research site | Cost | Best feature |
TheStreet | $984/year | Lots of stock advice |
Morningstar | $249/year | Star-rated picks |
Motley Fool Stock Advisor | $199/year | New stock picks monthly |
Morningstar
Morningstar has a popular star rating system that rates stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs from one to five stars, with five stars being the highest rating. Value investors may get the most out of it because it focuses on undervalued stocks trading at less than their intrinsic value. In other words, deals can be found.
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is a good stock research site for beginners and experienced investors. One of its best features is the two monthly stock recommendations that its founders make. The site’s stock picks regularly outperform the market.
An annual subscription to TheStreet’s plan, however, is more expensive. It includes a monthly live webinar on every portfolio stock from the team, while the Motley Fool puts out stock picks list that’s easy to read and doesn’t take as much time.
FAQs
Are the subscriptions on TheStreet worthwhile?
It depends on what you get out of them, but generally, we don’t think so. Paying $99 a month for stock analysis and commentary doesn’t seem like too much, until you realize that stock advice is free all over the internet. However, to find out, you may be better off trying a free, 14-day trial.
Is it easy to cancel?
Not from the reviews we’ve seen. TheStreet doesn’t allow cancellations online, but instead requires customers to call a customer service line to cancel. At least it has a customer service phone number, which is more than many online businesses have. But that still seems like more of a hassle than canceling online. It’s important to remember that a subscription automatically renews on your credit card unless you cancel ahead of time, and some reviewers have said they couldn’t get a refund when trying to cancel after an automatic renewal.
What’s best about TheStreet?
The site has lots of commentary and news. Almost all of the news is free to read, but the commentary and analysis often requires a subscription. Still, there’s a lot of the latest news available for free on TheStreet, which is better than what many news sites offer after reading only a few stories for free.
Use Motley Fool's Stock Advisor To Invest
- Over 100 Stock Picks with 100%+ Returns
- Averaged Stock Pick Return over 593% (vs. 165% for the S&P)
- 2 New Stock Picks Every Month
- Investment Community With 700,000+ Loyal Members
- 30-Day Membership-Fee-Back Guarantee
- Joy Wallet Reader Deal: The Motley Fool is offering 50% off its top stock-picking service for new members (Limited Time)
The bottom line
For basic financial news, TheStreet provides plenty and then some. Readers can get overwhelmed by the amount of free news, though that may be preferable to some people. It also offers a lot of commentaries, analysis, stock picks, and other information so users can hopefully make some real money as investors.
Much of that extra content requires a paid subscription. Before paying for a year of service upfront, we recommend trying out a two-week free subscription and paying for a month more if they like a subscription.
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Writer
Aaron Crowe is a freelance journalist who specializes in personal finance writing and editing. He has worked at newspapers, where he won a Pulitzer Prize, and has written for numerous online publications. These include AOL, US News & World Report, WiseBread, Bankrate, AARP, and many websites focusing on housing, credit and insurance. He lives in California with his wife and daughter.
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