A vs. AMAT, ASUR, CYBR, GOOGL, SMTC, AME, ANET, DOCN, PSTG, and TMO
Should you be buying Agilent Technologies stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Agilent Technologies include Applied Materials (AMAT), Asure Software (ASUR), CyberArk Software (CYBR), Alphabet (GOOGL), Semtech (SMTC), AMETEK (AME), Arista Networks (ANET), DigitalOcean (DOCN), Pure Storage (PSTG), and Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO).
Agilent Technologies vs. Its Competitors
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) and Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) are related large-cap companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, profitability, earnings and valuation.
Applied Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Agilent Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.99 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials pays out 22.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Agilent Technologies pays out 24.4% 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. Applied Materials has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years and Agilent Technologies has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Applied Materials is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
In the previous week, Applied Materials had 46 more articles in the media than Agilent Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 69 mentions for Applied Materials and 23 mentions for Agilent Technologies. Applied Materials' average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Agilent Technologies' score of 1.05 indicating that Applied Materials is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Applied Materials has a beta of 1.69, meaning that its stock price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agilent Technologies has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.
80.6% of Applied Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of Agilent Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Applied Materials shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Agilent Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Applied Materials currently has a consensus price target of $202.65, indicating a potential upside of 3.72%. Agilent Technologies has a consensus price target of $139.77, indicating a potential upside of 15.06%. Given Agilent Technologies' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Agilent Technologies is more favorable than Applied Materials.
Applied Materials has higher revenue and earnings than Agilent Technologies. Applied Materials is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Agilent Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Applied Materials has a net margin of 24.06% compared to Agilent Technologies' net margin of 17.59%. Applied Materials' return on equity of 40.15% beat Agilent Technologies' return on equity.
Summary
Applied Materials beats Agilent Technologies on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Agilent Technologies News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for A and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding A 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 NYSE 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.
Skip Chart
Agilent Technologies Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NYSE:A) was last updated on 7/10/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff