Academic Research about Seeking Alpha

Research about Seeking Alpha analysis published in journals

  • In May 2014, The Review of Financial Studies published Wisdom of Crowds: The Value of Stock Opinions Transmitted Through Social Media. Researchers from City University of Hong Kong, Purdue University, and Georgia Institute of Technology analyzed approximately 100,000 Seeking Alpha articles and comments published between 2005 and 2012. The researchers looked at the ability of Seeking Alpha articles to predict not only future stock returns (a variable susceptible to influence by analysts' published opinions), but also future earnings surprises (a variable unlikely to be influenced by published opinions). The authors found that views expressed in Seeking Alpha articles, as well as reader comments on those articles, did predict future stock returns over every time-frame examined, from one month to three years. Articles and reader comments also predicted earnings surprises. (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.)

  • In June 2019, Journal of Management Information Systems published Monetary Incentive and Stock Opinions on Social Media. Researchers from University of Hong Kong, Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Washington examined the impact of Seeking Alpha’s introduction of payments for contributing analysts. They found that monetary incentive results in wider stock and industry coverage, while having no impact on the quality of stock recommendations. (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.)

  • In July 2019, Review of Accounting Studies published Skin in the Game: Personal Stock Holdings and Investors’ Response to Stock Analysis on Social Media. Researchers from University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Georgia Institute of Technology found that disclosure of stock positions of analysts who contribute articles to Seeking Alpha enhances the informativeness of their articles, which is reflected by stronger stock returns surrounding their articles' publication date.  (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.)

  • In September 2020, Journal of Financial Markets published Social media, financial reporting opacity, and return comovement: Evidence from Seeking Alpha. Researchers from University of Warwick, University of Edinburgh, and University of Manchester found that coverage by Seeking Alpha reduces the synchronization of individual stocks with other stocks in their industry and the broader market. “Given there are an increasing number of investors who are informed after reading financial analysis posted on [Seeking Alpha], they are able to take advantage of such information when they trade with uninformed investors.” They also found that “Seeking Alpha is becoming an important platform where individuals can exchange investment ideas with others, because it allows registered users not only to write and read articles, but also to post comments in response to an existing piece of information.” (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.)

  • In January 2022, The European Journal of Finance published Social media coverage and post-earnings announcement drift: evidence from seeking alpha. Researchers from NEOMA Business School, University of Glasgow, and Nottingham University examined data collected over a nine-year period from Seeking Alpha. They found that the “market response to an earnings surprise attenuates for firms with high coverage on Seeking Alpha prior to the earnings announcement”, namely that Seeking Alpha coverage helps the market absorb earnings information more quickly, leading to a more immediate and efficient price response ahead of earnings announcements.  (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.)

  • In February 2022, Review of Accounting Studies published Social Media Analysts and Sell-Side Analyst Research. Researchers from Brigham Young University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Texas A&M University found that “the market reaction to sell-side analyst research is substantially reduced when preceded by the report of a [Seeking Alpha] analyst, and this is particularly true for sell-side analysts’ earnings forecasts… Collectively, our results suggest that equity research posted online by [Seeking Alpha] analysts provides investors with information similar to but earlier than sell-side equity research.” (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.) 

  • In August 2022, The Journal of Financial Economics published The democratization of investment research and the informativeness of retail investor trading. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Emory University, University of Kentucky, and University of Texas at Dallas analyzed 180,000 Seeking Alpha research reports discussing 4900 stocks. They found that “retail trading is markedly higher after the publication of Seeking Alpha research”, and that “measures of report sentiment that predict future returns, such as report tone and contributors’ investment positions, explain retail investor trade order imbalances in the post-publication period.” (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.) 

  • In September 2024, American Accounting Association Review published Financial Analysis on Social Media and Disclosure Processing Costs: Evidence from Seeking Alpha. Researchers from Temple University, University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology and Texas A&M University showed that analysis published on Seeking Alpha helps level the informational playing field.This was suggested by the researchers’ finding that in quarters where there is more financial analysis on social media before an earnings announcement, the usual spike in information asymmetry around the announcement is noticeably smaller. Articles on Seeking Alpha help otherwise less-informed investors. (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.) 

  • In November 2024, International Review of Economics & Finance published Common investor coverage and excess return comovement: Evidence from Seeking Alpha. Researchers from Central University of Finance and Economics, University of Nottingham, Zhejiang University, and Montpellier Business School examined Seeking Alpha articles and comments, and showed that coverage of stocks by the same Seeking Alpha analysts and commenters leads to co-movement of those stocks. (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.)

  • In March 2025, Journal of Financial Markets published Investor sentiment and stock returns: Wisdom of crowds or power of words? Evidence from Seeking Alpha and Wall Street Journal.  Researchers from Birbeck College, University of London examined a data set of articles and reader comments from 2006 to 2020. They showed that “that investor sentiment extracted from the social media platform Seeking Alpha is better in predicting market returns than investor sentiment obtained from the Wall Street Journal.” While articles in the Daily Markets section of the Wall Street Journal are written by a rather small number of professional journalists and are constrained in volume and length, articles in Seeking Alpha’s Today’s Market section are contributed by thousands of independent and non-professional contributors who are not required to write articles on a regular basis, and “whose articles are more suitable for the extraction of investor sentiment due to the richer language and timeliness of online media.” (Access free version or purchase journal-published version.)

 

Research about Seeking Alpha analysis not yet published in journals

 

Research about Seeking Alpha’s quant ratings

  • In Quantitative Analysis and the Informativeness of Social Media Research, researchers from the University of Kentucky found that Seeking Alpha’s Quant Ratings “strongly predict” future returns based on multiple years of data. Seeking Alpha’s quant ratings “improved the quality of contributor’s investment recommendations and helped retail investors better incorporate quantitative signals”.