AT&T (T) Competitors

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and AT&T (NYSE:T) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Which has better earnings and valuation, AAPL or T?

Apple has higher revenue and earnings than AT&T. AT&T 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	7.55	$93.74B	$6.59	30.71
AT&T	$122.34B	1.62	$10.95B	$1.76	15.77

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of AAPL or T?

67.7% of Apple shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of AT&T shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Apple shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of AT&T shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer AAPL or T?

Apple currently has a consensus target price of $237.25, suggesting a potential upside of 17.23%. AT&T has a consensus target price of $29.66, suggesting a potential upside of 6.84%. Given Apple's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Apple is more favorable than AT&T.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apple	2 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
AT&T	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.72

Is AAPL or T more profitable?

Apple has a net margin of 24.30% compared to AT&T's net margin of 10.29%. Apple's return on equity of 172.48% beat AT&T's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apple	24.30%	172.48%	31.58%
AT&T	10.29%	13.36%	3.99%

Is AAPL or T a better dividend stock?

Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. AT&T pays an annual dividend of $1.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Apple pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AT&T pays out 63.1% 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.

Does the media refer more to AAPL or T?

In the previous week, Apple had 318 more articles in the media than AT&T. MarketBeat recorded 378 mentions for Apple and 60 mentions for AT&T. AT&T's average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat Apple's score of 0.80 indicating that AT&T is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Apple	194 Very Positive mention(s)	54 Positive mention(s)	68 Neutral mention(s)	38 Negative mention(s)	6 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AT&T	45 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, AAPL or T?

Apple has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AT&T has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Apple beats AT&T on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.