Seagate Technology (STX) Competitors

HP (NYSE:HPQ) and Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) 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 dividends, earnings, valuation, community ranking, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Is HPQ or STX more profitable?

Seagate Technology has a net margin of 11.34% compared to HP's net margin of 5.18%. Seagate Technology's return on equity of -32.19% beat HP's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HP	5.18%	-253.39%	8.83%
Seagate Technology	11.34%	-32.19%	6.98%

Is HPQ or STX a better dividend stock?

HP pays an annual dividend of $1.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Seagate Technology pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. HP pays out 40.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Seagate Technology pays out 75.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. HP has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. HP is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, HPQ or STX?

HP has higher revenue and earnings than Seagate Technology. HP is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seagate Technology, 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
HP	$53.56B	0.58	$2.78B	$2.81	11.72
Seagate Technology	$7.27B	2.54	$335M	$3.83	22.80

Which has more risk and volatility, HPQ or STX?

HP has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seagate Technology has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of HPQ or STX?

77.5% of HP shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Seagate Technology shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of HP shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Seagate Technology 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 prefer HPQ or STX?

HP received 306 more outperform votes than Seagate Technology when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.63% of users gave HP an outperform vote while only 58.73% of users gave Seagate Technology an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
HP	Outperform Votes 1500 60.63%	Underperform Votes 974 39.37%
Seagate Technology	Outperform Votes 1194 58.73%	Underperform Votes 839 41.27%

Do analysts prefer HPQ or STX?

HP currently has a consensus target price of $36.45, indicating a potential upside of 10.66%. Seagate Technology has a consensus target price of $118.83, indicating a potential upside of 36.11%. Given Seagate Technology's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Seagate Technology is more favorable than HP.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HP	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Seagate Technology	2 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47

Does the media refer more to HPQ or STX?

In the previous week, HP had 5 more articles in the media than Seagate Technology. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for HP and 9 mentions for Seagate Technology. HP's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Seagate Technology's score of 0.75 indicating that HP is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HP	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Seagate Technology	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

HP beats Seagate Technology on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.