Alphabet (GOOGL) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer GOOGL or AAPL?

Alphabet presently has a consensus target price of $199.95, indicating a potential upside of 13.71%. Apple has a consensus target price of $234.95, indicating a potential upside of 13.05%. Given Alphabet's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Alphabet is more favorable than Apple.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alphabet	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	28 Buy rating(s)	4 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Apple	2 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	18 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.61

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, GOOGL or AAPL?

Alphabet has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
Alphabet	$350.02B	6.10	$100.12B	$8.97	19.60
Apple	$391.04B	7.94	$93.74B	$6.42	32.37

Which has more risk and volatility, GOOGL or AAPL?

Alphabet has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Apple has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer GOOGL or AAPL?

In the previous week, Apple had 116 more articles in the media than Alphabet. MarketBeat recorded 291 mentions for Apple and 175 mentions for Alphabet. Alphabet's average media sentiment score of 0.95 beat Apple's score of 0.82 indicating that Alphabet is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alphabet	107 Very Positive mention(s)	22 Positive mention(s)	30 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Apple	141 Very Positive mention(s)	27 Positive mention(s)	70 Neutral mention(s)	36 Negative mention(s)	14 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is GOOGL or AAPL more profitable?

Alphabet has a net margin of 30.86% compared to Apple's net margin of 24.30%. Apple's return on equity of 167.24% beat Alphabet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alphabet	30.86%	34.54%	25.07%
Apple	24.30%	167.24%	31.35%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of GOOGL or AAPL?

40.0% of Alphabet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of Apple shares are held by institutional investors. 11.6% of Alphabet shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Apple shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is GOOGL or AAPL a better dividend stock?

Alphabet pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Alphabet pays out 9.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Apple pays out 16.2% 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. Alphabet has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Apple has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Apple is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

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