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Microsoft (MSFT) Competitors

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$521.76 -0.28 (-0.05%)
Closing price 08/11/2025 03:59 PM Eastern
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MSFT vs. AAPL, AMD, AMZN, GOOG, GOOGL, META, NVDA, TSLA, CRM, and ORCL

Should you be buying Microsoft stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Microsoft include Apple (AAPL), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Amazon.com (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), NVIDIA (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), Salesforce (CRM), and Oracle (ORCL).

Microsoft vs. Its Competitors

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

Microsoft has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Apple. Apple is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Microsoft, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Microsoft$281.72B13.77$101.83B$13.6438.25
Apple$391.04B8.62$93.74B$6.5934.47

Microsoft currently has a consensus price target of $609.86, suggesting a potential upside of 16.88%. Apple has a consensus price target of $237.60, suggesting a potential upside of 4.59%. Given Microsoft's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Microsoft is more favorable than Apple.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Microsoft
0 Sell rating(s)
2 Hold rating(s)
30 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.94
Apple
2 Sell rating(s)
11 Hold rating(s)
15 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.57

In the previous week, Apple had 164 more articles in the media than Microsoft. MarketBeat recorded 385 mentions for Apple and 221 mentions for Microsoft. Microsoft's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Apple's score of 0.90 indicating that Microsoft is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Microsoft
164 Very Positive mention(s)
19 Positive mention(s)
25 Neutral mention(s)
8 Negative mention(s)
2 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Apple
214 Very Positive mention(s)
53 Positive mention(s)
81 Neutral mention(s)
25 Negative mention(s)
7 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

Microsoft has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Apple has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Microsoft has a net margin of 36.15% compared to Apple's net margin of 24.30%. Apple's return on equity of 170.91% beat Microsoft's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Microsoft36.15% 32.44% 18.20%
Apple 24.30%170.91%31.94%

Microsoft pays an annual dividend of $3.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Microsoft pays out 24.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Apple pays out 15.8% 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. Microsoft has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years and Apple has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Microsoft is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

71.1% of Microsoft shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of Apple shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Microsoft shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Apple shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Microsoft beats Apple on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MSFT and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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MSFT vs. The Competition

MetricMicrosoftCOMP IndustryComputer SectorNASDAQ Exchange
Market Cap$3.88T$168.81B$29.87B$9.72B
Dividend Yield0.64%1.33%3.11%4.13%
P/E Ratio38.2537.9349.9724.63
Price / Sales13.7710.051,466.70102.60
Price / Cash28.5428.1933.5727.99
Price / Book11.299.757.175.76
Net Income$101.83B$4.12B$803.97M$264.95M
7 Day Performance-1.13%-1.16%-0.50%0.01%
1 Month Performance3.66%-2.29%-0.73%1.28%
1 Year Performance28.26%34.66%24,040.80%26.11%

Microsoft Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
MSFT
Microsoft
4.9364 of 5 stars
$521.77
-0.1%
$609.86
+16.9%
+28.5%$3.88T$281.72B38.25228,000Trending News
AAPL
Apple
4.6835 of 5 stars
$204.13
+0.9%
$237.25
+16.2%
+5.1%$3.04T$391.04B30.93164,000Trending News
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices
4.3115 of 5 stars
$177.62
+3.4%
$162.94
-8.3%
+28.3%$287.92B$25.79B130.5728,000Trending News
Earnings Report
Analyst Forecast
AMZN
Amazon.com
4.7907 of 5 stars
$212.80
-0.9%
$262.45
+23.3%
+32.6%$2.26T$670.04B32.421,556,000Trending News
GOOG
Alphabet
4.7796 of 5 stars
$195.51
+2.9%
$215.19
+10.1%
+21.9%$2.36T$350.02B20.80190,200Trending News
Insider Trade
Options Volume
GOOGL
Alphabet
4.1621 of 5 stars
$194.67
+2.9%
$211.39
+8.6%
+22.8%$2.35T$350.02B20.71183,323Trending News
Insider Trade
META
Meta Platforms
4.2362 of 5 stars
$773.47
+3.1%
$820.32
+6.1%
+47.9%$1.94T$164.50B27.9974,067Trending News
Insider Trade
NVDA
NVIDIA
4.6519 of 5 stars
$179.59
+3.4%
$182.03
+1.4%
+73.8%$4.38T$148.52B57.9236,000Trending News
TSLA
Tesla
4.3678 of 5 stars
$309.24
+2.2%
$303.31
-1.9%
+69.5%$996.30B$92.72B178.55125,665Trending News
Analyst Revision
CRM
Salesforce
4.9002 of 5 stars
$251.95
+0.5%
$348.16
+38.2%
-7.9%$240.82B$38.59B39.4276,453Trending News
Insider Trade
ORCL
Oracle
4.4254 of 5 stars
$251.63
+3.0%
$218.29
-13.3%
+91.6%$706.31B$57.40B57.94162,000Trending News

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This page (NASDAQ:MSFT) was last updated on 8/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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