Motorola Solutions (MSI) Competitors

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MSI or CSCO?

Cisco Systems received 1643 more outperform votes than Motorola Solutions when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.04% of users gave Cisco Systems an outperform vote while only 67.57% of users gave Motorola Solutions an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Motorola Solutions	Outperform Votes 798 67.57%	Underperform Votes 383 32.43%
Cisco Systems	Outperform Votes 2441 73.04%	Underperform Votes 901 26.96%

Do analysts prefer MSI or CSCO?

Motorola Solutions presently has a consensus price target of $505.88, suggesting a potential upside of 16.73%. Cisco Systems has a consensus price target of $66.63, suggesting a potential upside of 9.48%. Given Motorola Solutions' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Motorola Solutions is more favorable than Cisco Systems.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Motorola Solutions	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88
Cisco Systems	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, MSI or CSCO?

Cisco Systems has higher revenue and earnings than Motorola Solutions. Cisco Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Motorola Solutions, 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
Motorola Solutions	$10.82B	6.69	$1.58B	$9.22	47.00
Cisco Systems	$54.18B	4.47	$10.32B	$2.29	26.58

Which has more risk & volatility, MSI or CSCO?

Motorola Solutions has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cisco Systems has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to MSI or CSCO?

In the previous week, Cisco Systems had 41 more articles in the media than Motorola Solutions. MarketBeat recorded 72 mentions for Cisco Systems and 31 mentions for Motorola Solutions. Motorola Solutions' average media sentiment score of 1.70 beat Cisco Systems' score of 1.40 indicating that Motorola Solutions is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Motorola Solutions	31 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Cisco Systems	62 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is MSI or CSCO more profitable?

Cisco Systems has a net margin of 16.96% compared to Motorola Solutions' net margin of 14.58%. Motorola Solutions' return on equity of 197.59% beat Cisco Systems' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Motorola Solutions	14.58%	197.59%	15.81%
Cisco Systems	16.96%	26.08%	9.65%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MSI or CSCO?

84.2% of Motorola Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.3% of Cisco Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Motorola Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Cisco Systems 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.

Is MSI or CSCO a better dividend stock?

Motorola Solutions pays an annual dividend of $4.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Cisco Systems pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Motorola Solutions pays out 47.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cisco Systems pays out 71.6% 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. Motorola Solutions has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Cisco Systems has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Summary

Motorola Solutions beats Cisco Systems on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.