Alphabet (GOOG) Competitors

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, media sentiment, dividends and valuation.

Which has better earnings and valuation, GOOG or AAPL?

Alphabet has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Apple. Alphabet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Apple, 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
Alphabet	$350.02B	6.98	$100.12B	$9.39	21.52
Apple	$391.04B	8.70	$93.74B	$6.59	34.80

Do analysts prefer GOOG or AAPL?

Alphabet presently has a consensus target price of $215.19, suggesting a potential upside of 6.47%. Apple has a consensus target price of $237.60, suggesting a potential upside of 3.60%. Given Alphabet's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Alphabet is more favorable than Apple.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alphabet	3 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	5 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.77
Apple	2 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57

Is GOOG or AAPL a better dividend stock?

Alphabet pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Alphabet pays out 8.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Apple pays out 15.8% 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. Alphabet has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Apple has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Apple is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, GOOG or AAPL?

Alphabet has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Apple has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

27.3% of Alphabet shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of Apple shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.0% of Alphabet shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Apple 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.

Does the media favor GOOG or AAPL?

In the previous week, Apple had 229 more articles in the media than Alphabet. MarketBeat recorded 386 mentions for Apple and 157 mentions for Alphabet. Alphabet's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat Apple's score of 0.85 indicating that Alphabet is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alphabet	137 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	6 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Apple	207 Very Positive mention(s)	58 Positive mention(s)	84 Neutral mention(s)	19 Negative mention(s)	7 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is GOOG or AAPL more profitable?

Alphabet has a net margin of 31.12% compared to Apple's net margin of 24.30%. Apple's return on equity of 170.91% beat Alphabet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alphabet	31.12%	34.31%	24.88%
Apple	24.30%	170.91%	31.94%

Summary

Alphabet and Apple tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.