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 contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, valuation and profitability.

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

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%

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 4.2%. 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 increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate AAPL or T?

Apple presently has a consensus price target of $247.49, indicating a potential downside of 3.45%. AT&T has a consensus price target of $30.75, indicating a potential upside of 16.99%. 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)	13 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
AT&T	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Which has better earnings and 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	$391.04B	9.73	$93.74B	$6.59	38.90
AT&T	$123.98B	1.52	$10.95B	$1.76	14.93

Does the media favor AAPL or T?

In the previous week, Apple had 152 more articles in the media than AT&T. MarketBeat recorded 230 mentions for Apple and 78 mentions for AT&T. Apple's average media sentiment score of 1.02 beat AT&T's score of 0.96 indicating that Apple is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Apple	139 Very Positive mention(s)	24 Positive mention(s)	26 Neutral mention(s)	16 Negative mention(s)	5 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AT&T	46 Very Positive mention(s)	10 Positive mention(s)	16 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, AAPL or T?

Apple has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AT&T has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Apple beats AT&T on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.