MSFT vs. AAPL, GOOG, GOOGL, NVDA, TSM, ORCL, NOW, VMW, QLYS, and CVLT
Should you be buying Microsoft stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Microsoft include Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG), Alphabet (GOOGL), NVIDIA (NVDA), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Oracle (ORCL), ServiceNow (NOW), VMware (VMW), Qualys (QLYS), and Commvault Systems (CVLT). These companies are all part of the "computer and technology" sector.
Microsoft vs.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) 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 dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking and institutional ownership.
Apple has higher revenue and earnings than Microsoft. Apple is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Microsoft, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
69.2% of Microsoft shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.6% of Apple shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Microsoft shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Apple shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Microsoft pays an annual dividend of $2.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Apple pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft pays out 30.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Apple pays out 15.1% 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 received 4096 more outperform votes than Microsoft when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 82.89% of users gave Apple an outperform vote while only 73.48% of users gave Microsoft an outperform vote.
Microsoft has a net margin of 33.05% compared to Apple's net margin of 25.31%. Apple's return on equity of 160.90% beat Microsoft's return on equity.
Microsoft currently has a consensus price target of $283.09, suggesting a potential upside of 14.08%. Apple has a consensus price target of $163.15, suggesting a potential upside of 11.80%. Given Microsoft's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Microsoft is more favorable than Apple.
In the previous week, Microsoft had 124 more articles in the media than Apple. MarketBeat recorded 214 mentions for Microsoft and 90 mentions for Apple. Apple's average media sentiment score of 0.50 beat Microsoft's score of -0.01 indicating that Apple is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Microsoft has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Apple has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Apple beats Microsoft on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
Skip ChartMedia 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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Microsoft Competitors List