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 stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk and valuation.
62.1% of Verizon Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of AT&T shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Verizon Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of AT&T shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
AT&T received 309 more outperform votes than Verizon Communications when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.96% of users gave AT&T an outperform vote while only 59.02% of users gave Verizon Communications an outperform vote.
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.
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.
In the previous week, AT&T had 12 more articles in the media than Verizon Communications. MarketBeat recorded 49 mentions for AT&T and 37 mentions for Verizon Communications. AT&T's average media sentiment score of 0.62 beat Verizon Communications' score of 0.37 indicating that Verizon Communications is being referred to more favorably in the media.
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 increased 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.
Verizon Communications presently has a consensus price target of $44.21, suggesting a potential upside of 9.79%. AT&T has a consensus price target of $20.81, suggesting a potential upside of 20.24%. Given Verizon Communications' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly 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.
Get AT&T News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for T and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
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.
This 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.
Related Companies and Tools
