Apple (AAPL) Competitors

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, community ranking, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Do analysts prefer ANET or AAPL?

Arista Networks presently has a consensus price target of $106.07, indicating a potential upside of 48.19%. Apple has a consensus price target of $235.85, indicating a potential upside of 18.74%. Given Arista Networks' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Arista Networks is more favorable than Apple.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arista Networks	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73
Apple	2 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	22 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in ANET or AAPL?

82.5% of Arista Networks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of Apple shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Arista Networks shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Apple shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ANET or AAPL more profitable?

Arista Networks has a net margin of 40.72% compared to Apple's net margin of 24.30%. Apple's return on equity of 160.83% beat Arista Networks' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arista Networks	40.72%	29.91%	21.67%
Apple	24.30%	160.83%	30.88%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ANET or AAPL?

Apple received 6033 more outperform votes than Arista Networks when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 81.99% of users gave Apple an outperform vote while only 74.59% of users gave Arista Networks an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Arista Networks	Outperform Votes 1327 74.59%	Underperform Votes 452 25.41%
Apple	Outperform Votes 7360 81.99%	Underperform Votes 1617 18.01%

Does the media favor ANET or AAPL?

In the previous week, Apple had 332 more articles in the media than Arista Networks. MarketBeat recorded 389 mentions for Apple and 57 mentions for Arista Networks. Arista Networks' average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat Apple's score of 0.70 indicating that Arista Networks is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Arista Networks	36 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	6 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Apple	202 Very Positive mention(s)	53 Positive mention(s)	66 Neutral mention(s)	38 Negative mention(s)	13 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, ANET or AAPL?

Apple has higher revenue and earnings than Arista Networks. Apple is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Arista Networks, 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
Arista Networks	$7.00B	12.89	$2.85B	$2.22	32.24
Apple	$395.76B	7.54	$93.74B	$6.30	31.53

Which has more risk and volatility, ANET or AAPL?

Arista Networks has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Apple has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Apple beats Arista Networks on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.