Costco Wholesale (COST) Competitors

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) are related large-cap companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in AAPL or COST?

67.7% of Apple shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Apple shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, AAPL or COST?

Apple has higher revenue and earnings than Costco Wholesale. Apple is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costco Wholesale, 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	$408.63B	8.68	$93.74B	$6.59	36.27
Costco Wholesale	$268.78B	1.59	$7.37B	$17.63	54.62

Is AAPL or COST more profitable?

Apple has a net margin of 24.30% compared to Costco Wholesale's net margin of 2.92%. Apple's return on equity of 170.91% beat Costco Wholesale's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apple	24.30%	170.91%	31.94%
Costco Wholesale	2.92%	30.48%	10.52%

Which has more volatility & risk, AAPL or COST?

Apple has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AAPL or COST a better dividend stock?

Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Costco Wholesale pays out 29.5% 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 Costco Wholesale has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Costco Wholesale is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media prefer AAPL or COST?

In the previous week, Apple had 189 more articles in the media than Costco Wholesale. MarketBeat recorded 303 mentions for Apple and 114 mentions for Costco Wholesale. Costco Wholesale's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat Apple's score of 0.95 indicating that Costco Wholesale is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Apple	203 Very Positive mention(s)	24 Positive mention(s)	51 Neutral mention(s)	18 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Costco Wholesale	75 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	23 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer AAPL or COST?

Apple presently has a consensus target price of $241.93, suggesting a potential upside of 1.23%. Costco Wholesale has a consensus target price of $1,056.67, suggesting a potential upside of 9.72%. Given Costco Wholesale's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Costco Wholesale is more favorable than Apple.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apple	1 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.56
Costco Wholesale	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.65

Summary

Apple and Costco Wholesale tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.