Apple (AAPL) Competitors

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, valuation, risk, earnings, community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Is AAPL or ANET more profitable?

Arista Networks has a net margin of 40.72% compared to Apple's net margin of 24.30%. Apple's return on equity of 160.83% beat Arista Networks' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apple	24.30%	160.83%	30.88%
Arista Networks	40.72%	29.91%	21.67%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AAPL or ANET?

67.7% of Apple shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.5% of Arista Networks shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Apple shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Arista Networks shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AAPL or ANET?

Apple received 6023 more outperform votes than Arista Networks when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 81.99% of users gave Apple an outperform vote while only 74.58% of users gave Arista Networks an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Apple	Outperform Votes 7346 81.99%	Underperform Votes 1614 18.01%
Arista Networks	Outperform Votes 1323 74.58%	Underperform Votes 451 25.42%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AAPL or ANET?

Apple has higher revenue and earnings than Arista Networks. Apple is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Arista Networks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Apple	$395.76B	8.47	$93.74B	$6.30	35.44
Arista Networks	$7.00B	15.66	$2.85B	$2.22	39.17

Does the media prefer AAPL or ANET?

In the previous week, Apple had 168 more articles in the media than Arista Networks. MarketBeat recorded 245 mentions for Apple and 77 mentions for Arista Networks. Arista Networks' average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat Apple's score of 0.69 indicating that Arista Networks is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Apple	134 Very Positive mention(s)	23 Positive mention(s)	45 Neutral mention(s)	23 Negative mention(s)	18 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Arista Networks	62 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend AAPL or ANET?

Apple currently has a consensus target price of $243.65, indicating a potential upside of 9.14%. Arista Networks has a consensus target price of $114.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.10%. Given Arista Networks' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Arista Networks is more favorable than Apple.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apple	4 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	21 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
Arista Networks	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Which has more volatility and risk, AAPL or ANET?

Apple has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arista Networks has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Apple beats Arista Networks on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.