T vs. VZ, AMX, LRCX, INTC, MU, UBER, ADI, NOW, PANW, and ANET
Should you be buying AT&T stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of AT&T include Verizon Communications (VZ), América Móvil (AMX), Lam Research (LRCX), Intel (INTC), Micron Technology (MU), Uber Technologies (UBER), Analog Devices (ADI), ServiceNow (NOW), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), and Arista Networks (ANET). These companies are all part of the "computer and technology" sector.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, risk, community ranking and dividends.
62.1% of Verizon Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of AT&T shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Verizon Communications shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of AT&T shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, AT&T had 13 more articles in the media than Verizon Communications. MarketBeat recorded 55 mentions for AT&T and 42 mentions for Verizon Communications. AT&T's average media sentiment score of 0.60 beat Verizon Communications' score of 0.36 indicating that Verizon Communications is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Verizon Communications has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AT&T has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Verizon Communications pays an annual dividend of $2.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. AT&T pays an annual dividend of $1.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.4%. Verizon Communications pays out 99.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AT&T pays out 59.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Verizon Communications has raised its dividend for 19 consecutive years. Verizon Communications is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
AT&T has a net margin of 11.13% compared to AT&T's net margin of 8.44%. AT&T's return on equity of 20.41% beat Verizon Communications' return on equity.
AT&T received 308 more outperform votes than Verizon Communications when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.96% of users gave AT&T an outperform vote while only 59.05% of users gave Verizon Communications an outperform vote.
Verizon Communications presently has a consensus target price of $44.36, indicating a potential upside of 10.73%. AT&T has a consensus target price of $20.81, indicating a potential upside of 19.58%. Given Verizon Communications' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe AT&T is more favorable than Verizon Communications.
AT&T has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Verizon Communications. AT&T is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Verizon Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
AT&T beats Verizon Communications on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding T and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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