NetApp (NTAP) Competitors

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) and NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) 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 community ranking, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Is WDC or NTAP a better dividend stock?

Western Digital pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. NetApp pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Western Digital pays out 47.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NetApp pays out 38.5% 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.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, WDC or NTAP?

NetApp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Western Digital. Western Digital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NetApp, 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
Western Digital	$15.60B	0.97	-$798M	$4.20	10.33
NetApp	$6.51B	2.95	$986M	$5.40	17.48

Do insiders & institutionals believe in WDC or NTAP?

92.5% of Western Digital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.2% of NetApp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Western Digital shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of NetApp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate WDC or NTAP?

Western Digital presently has a consensus price target of $80.21, suggesting a potential upside of 84.86%. NetApp has a consensus price target of $129.07, suggesting a potential upside of 36.74%. Given Western Digital's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Western Digital is more favorable than NetApp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Western Digital	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70
NetApp	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.35

Does the media favor WDC or NTAP?

In the previous week, NetApp had 18 more articles in the media than Western Digital. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for NetApp and 23 mentions for Western Digital. Western Digital's average media sentiment score of 0.86 beat NetApp's score of 0.83 indicating that Western Digital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Western Digital	13 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NetApp	22 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, WDC or NTAP?

Western Digital has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NetApp has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor WDC or NTAP?

Western Digital received 927 more outperform votes than NetApp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.03% of users gave Western Digital an outperform vote while only 53.45% of users gave NetApp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Western Digital	Outperform Votes 2072 74.03%	Underperform Votes 727 25.97%
NetApp	Outperform Votes 1145 53.45%	Underperform Votes 997 46.55%

Is WDC or NTAP more profitable?

NetApp has a net margin of 17.78% compared to Western Digital's net margin of 9.95%. NetApp's return on equity of 123.63% beat Western Digital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Western Digital	9.95%	15.68%	7.13%
NetApp	17.78%	123.63%	13.03%

Summary

Western Digital and NetApp tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.