AT&T (T) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate AAPL or T?

Apple presently has a consensus target price of $237.60, suggesting a potential upside of 2.07%. AT&T has a consensus target price of $29.66, suggesting a potential upside of 3.14%. Given AT&T's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe AT&T is more favorable than Apple.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apple	2 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
AT&T	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.72

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AAPL or T?

Apple has higher revenue and earnings than AT&T. AT&T 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
Apple	$408.63B	8.45	$93.74B	$6.59	35.32
AT&T	$122.34B	1.68	$10.95B	$1.76	16.34

Is AAPL or T more profitable?

Apple has a net margin of 24.30% compared to AT&T's net margin of 10.29%. Apple's return on equity of 170.91% beat AT&T's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apple	24.30%	170.91%	31.94%
AT&T	10.29%	13.36%	3.99%

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

67.7% of Apple shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of AT&T shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Apple shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of AT&T shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AAPL or T a better dividend stock?

Apple pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. AT&T pays an annual dividend of $1.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Apple pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AT&T pays out 63.1% 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 has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Which has more risk & volatility, AAPL or T?

Apple has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AT&T has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer AAPL or T?

In the previous week, Apple had 230 more articles in the media than AT&T. MarketBeat recorded 310 mentions for Apple and 80 mentions for AT&T. AT&T's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Apple's score of 0.82 indicating that AT&T is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Apple	180 Very Positive mention(s)	31 Positive mention(s)	57 Neutral mention(s)	33 Negative mention(s)	7 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AT&T	50 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	8 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Apple beats AT&T on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.