Alphabet (GOOG) Competitors

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

Is AAPL or GOOG a better dividend stock?

Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Apple pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alphabet pays out 8.9% 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 increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Alphabet has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Apple is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, AAPL or GOOG?

Alphabet has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Apple. Alphabet 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	$391.04B	9.72	$93.74B	$6.59	38.86
Alphabet	$350.02B	8.74	$100.12B	$9.39	26.93

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

67.7% of Apple shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.3% of Alphabet shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Apple shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.0% of Alphabet shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AAPL or GOOG more profitable?

Alphabet has a net margin of 31.12% compared to Apple's net margin of 24.30%. Apple's return on equity of 170.91% beat Alphabet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apple	24.30%	170.91%	31.94%
Alphabet	31.12%	34.31%	24.88%

Does the media refer more to AAPL or GOOG?

In the previous week, Apple had 36 more articles in the media than Alphabet. MarketBeat recorded 259 mentions for Apple and 223 mentions for Alphabet. Alphabet's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Apple's score of 1.06 indicating that Alphabet is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Apple	177 Very Positive mention(s)	29 Positive mention(s)	38 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alphabet	177 Very Positive mention(s)	11 Positive mention(s)	22 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer AAPL or GOOG?

Apple presently has a consensus price target of $244.03, suggesting a potential downside of 4.71%. Alphabet has a consensus price target of $230.35, suggesting a potential downside of 8.91%. Given Apple's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Apple is more favorable than Alphabet.

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
Alphabet	3 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	19 Buy rating(s)	4 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.77

Which has more volatility and risk, AAPL or GOOG?

Apple has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alphabet has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Apple beats Alphabet on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.