Meta Platforms (META) Competitors

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Do analysts prefer GOOGL or META?

Alphabet currently has a consensus price target of $190.60, indicating a potential upside of 15.44%. Meta Platforms has a consensus price target of $509.80, indicating a potential upside of 16.95%. Given Alphabet's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Meta Platforms is more favorable than Alphabet.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alphabet	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	30 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89
Meta Platforms	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	37 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89

Does the MarketBeat Community favor GOOGL or META?

Meta Platforms received 2004 more outperform votes than Alphabet when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 84.64% of users gave Alphabet an outperform vote while only 80.96% of users gave Meta Platforms an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Alphabet	Outperform Votes 2662 84.64%	Underperform Votes 483 15.36%
Meta Platforms	Outperform Votes 4666 80.96%	Underperform Votes 1097 19.04%

Is GOOGL or META more profitable?

Meta Platforms has a net margin of 32.06% compared to Meta Platforms' net margin of 25.90%. Alphabet's return on equity of 32.03% beat Meta Platforms' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alphabet	25.90%	29.52%	20.74%
Meta Platforms	32.06%	32.03%	21.21%

Does the media refer more to GOOGL or META?

In the previous week, Alphabet had 44 more articles in the media than Meta Platforms. MarketBeat recorded 236 mentions for Alphabet and 192 mentions for Meta Platforms. Meta Platforms' average media sentiment score of 0.59 beat Alphabet's score of 0.01 indicating that Alphabet is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alphabet	94 Very Positive mention(s)	19 Positive mention(s)	52 Neutral mention(s)	28 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Meta Platforms	60 Very Positive mention(s)	13 Positive mention(s)	33 Neutral mention(s)	42 Negative mention(s)	8 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do institutionals and insiders believe in GOOGL or META?

40.0% of Alphabet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Meta Platforms shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Alphabet shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of Meta Platforms shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, GOOGL or META?

Alphabet has higher revenue and earnings than Meta Platforms. Meta Platforms is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alphabet, 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
Alphabet	$307.39B	6.67	$73.80B	$6.52	25.28
Meta Platforms	$134.90B	8.23	$39.10B	$17.41	25.01

Which has more volatility and risk, GOOGL or META?

Alphabet has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Meta Platforms has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Meta Platforms beats Alphabet on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.