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Microsoft (MSFT) Competitors

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$509.23 -5.22 (-1.01%)
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$509.61 +0.38 (+0.07%)
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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

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

Apple has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Microsoft has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

In the previous week, Apple had 40 more articles in the media than Microsoft. MarketBeat recorded 255 mentions for Apple and 215 mentions for Microsoft. Microsoft's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Apple's score of 1.01 indicating that Microsoft is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Apple
168 Very Positive mention(s)
29 Positive mention(s)
42 Neutral mention(s)
9 Negative mention(s)
4 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Microsoft
157 Very Positive mention(s)
19 Positive mention(s)
26 Neutral mention(s)
12 Negative mention(s)
1 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

67.7% of Apple shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.1% of Microsoft shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Apple shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Microsoft shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Apple$391.04B9.66$93.74B$6.5938.61
Microsoft$281.72B13.44$101.83B$13.6437.33

Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Microsoft pays an annual dividend of $3.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Apple pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Microsoft pays out 24.3% 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 Microsoft has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years. Microsoft is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

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
Apple24.30% 170.91% 31.94%
Microsoft 36.15%32.44%18.20%

Apple currently has a consensus target price of $244.03, suggesting a potential downside of 4.09%. Microsoft has a consensus target price of $612.54, suggesting a potential upside of 20.29%. Given Microsoft's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Microsoft 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
Microsoft
0 Sell rating(s)
2 Hold rating(s)
29 Buy rating(s)
1 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.97

Summary

Microsoft beats Apple on 11 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$3.79T$180.22B$32.21B$10.43B
Dividend Yield0.64%1.22%3.15%4.58%
P/E Ratio37.3340.10452.7526.64
Price / Sales13.447.181,862.18126.90
Price / Cash28.3128.4635.7331.15
Price / Book11.0210.067.336.47
Net Income$101.83B$4.39B$810.65M$271.57M
7 Day Performance0.04%2.20%3.58%2.86%
1 Month Performance0.39%2.55%7.45%7.26%
1 Year Performance17.47%8.51%24,231.35%26.02%

Microsoft Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
MSFT
Microsoft
4.9645 of 5 stars
$509.23
-1.0%
$612.54
+20.3%
+18.2%$3.79T$281.72B37.33228,000Trending News
Analyst Downgrade
AAPL
Apple
4.7316 of 5 stars
$256.08
+4.3%
$244.03
-4.7%
+12.2%$3.80T$391.04B38.86164,000Trending News
Analyst Forecast
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices
4.8396 of 5 stars
$159.79
+1.5%
$180.88
+13.2%
+2.5%$259.31B$25.79B91.8328,000Trending News
AMZN
Amazon.com
4.8892 of 5 stars
$227.63
-1.7%
$263.30
+15.7%
+18.8%$2.43T$670.04B34.701,556,000Trending News
Options Volume
GOOG
Alphabet
4.7161 of 5 stars
$252.88
-0.9%
$230.35
-8.9%
+53.6%$3.06T$350.02B26.93190,200Trending News
Analyst Forecast
GOOGL
Alphabet
3.9916 of 5 stars
$252.53
-0.9%
$231.31
-8.4%
+54.4%$3.05T$350.02B26.89183,323Trending News
Analyst Downgrade
META
Meta Platforms
4.4261 of 5 stars
$765.16
-1.6%
$826.05
+8.0%
+36.3%$1.92T$164.50B27.7074,067Trending News
Analyst Revision
NVDA
NVIDIA
4.9335 of 5 stars
$183.61
+3.9%
$208.47
+13.5%
+58.3%$4.46T$165.22B52.3136,000Trending News
Analyst Forecast
Insider Trade
TSLA
Tesla
4.2387 of 5 stars
$434.21
+1.9%
$324.53
-25.3%
+82.2%$1.44T$92.72B250.99125,665Trending News
Analyst Forecast
CRM
Salesforce
4.9801 of 5 stars
$249.64
+1.0%
$332.58
+33.2%
-6.4%$237.66B$39.50B36.2876,453Positive News
ORCL
Oracle
4.7326 of 5 stars
$329.10
+6.6%
$303.44
-7.8%
+95.9%$935.21B$59.02B76.18162,000Trending News
Analyst Forecast
High Trading Volume

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This page (NASDAQ:MSFT) was last updated on 9/23/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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