QUALCOMM (QCOM) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate AAPL or QCOM?

Apple currently has a consensus price target of $234.44, suggesting a potential upside of 11.12%. QUALCOMM has a consensus price target of $185.77, suggesting a potential upside of 21.32%. Given QUALCOMM's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe QUALCOMM is more favorable than Apple.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apple	2 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
QUALCOMM	1 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.42

Which has better earnings & valuation, AAPL or QCOM?

Apple has higher revenue and earnings than QUALCOMM. QUALCOMM 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
Apple	$400.37B	7.87	$93.74B	$6.42	32.86
QUALCOMM	$38.96B	4.32	$10.14B	$9.82	15.59

Is AAPL or QCOM more profitable?

QUALCOMM has a net margin of 26.11% compared to Apple's net margin of 24.30%. Apple's return on equity of 167.24% beat QUALCOMM's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apple	24.30%	167.24%	31.35%
QUALCOMM	26.11%	40.11%	19.35%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in AAPL or QCOM?

67.7% of Apple shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.4% of QUALCOMM shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Apple shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of QUALCOMM shares are owned 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.

Is AAPL or QCOM a better dividend stock?

Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. QUALCOMM pays an annual dividend of $3.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Apple pays out 16.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. QUALCOMM pays out 36.3% 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. Apple has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years and QUALCOMM has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years. QUALCOMM is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, AAPL or QCOM?

Apple has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, QUALCOMM has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to AAPL or QCOM?

In the previous week, Apple had 204 more articles in the media than QUALCOMM. MarketBeat recorded 259 mentions for Apple and 55 mentions for QUALCOMM. QUALCOMM's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Apple's score of 0.84 indicating that QUALCOMM is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Apple	161 Very Positive mention(s)	17 Positive mention(s)	61 Neutral mention(s)	15 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
QUALCOMM	45 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

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