Costco Wholesale (COST) Competitors

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are related large-cap companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Do analysts recommend COST or AAPL?

Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus target price of $1,034.79, indicating a potential upside of 4.92%. Apple has a consensus target price of $234.95, indicating a potential upside of 10.12%. Given Apple's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Apple is more favorable than Costco Wholesale.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costco Wholesale	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	20 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69
Apple	2 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58

Is COST or AAPL more profitable?

Apple has a net margin of 24.30% compared to Costco Wholesale's net margin of 2.92%. Apple's return on equity of 167.24% beat Costco Wholesale's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Costco Wholesale	2.92%	30.48%	10.52%
Apple	24.30%	167.24%	31.35%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, COST or AAPL?

Apple has higher revenue and earnings than Costco Wholesale. Apple is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costco Wholesale, 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
Costco Wholesale	$254.45B	1.72	$7.37B	$17.63	55.94
Apple	$391.04B	8.15	$93.74B	$6.42	33.23

Is COST or AAPL a better dividend stock?

Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale pays out 29.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Apple pays out 16.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Costco Wholesale has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Apple has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Costco Wholesale is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in COST or AAPL?

68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of Apple shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Apple shares are owned by 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, COST or AAPL?

Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Apple has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to COST or AAPL?

In the previous week, Apple had 156 more articles in the media than Costco Wholesale. MarketBeat recorded 288 mentions for Apple and 132 mentions for Costco Wholesale. Costco Wholesale's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Apple's score of 0.78 indicating that Costco Wholesale is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Costco Wholesale	88 Very Positive mention(s)	17 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Apple	159 Very Positive mention(s)	20 Positive mention(s)	71 Neutral mention(s)	22 Negative mention(s)	14 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Apple beats Costco Wholesale on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.