STOCK DUELS
Apple vs Microsoft
Compares Apple and Microsoft across growth, profitability, cash generation, valuation and balance-sheet signals.
Official head-to-head comparisons for widely followed pairs.
Head-to-Head
Datafin’s View
Both are quality leaders; the real choice is usually between Apple’s cash-return machine and Microsoft’s broader, cloud-led growth runway.
The real choice is a philosophy of capital allocation: Apple returns its cash to shareholders, Microsoft reinvests it into the cloud. Apple’s edge is a loyal, high-margin ecosystem that prints free cash flow; Microsoft’s is a broader, recurring software-and-cloud engine still compounding — so the duel rewards whichever you trust to keep widening its moat.
Factor Profile
AAPL and MSFT are compared inside each metric family.
Results
Latest published or live-generated results from the official Datafin analysis.
| # | Stock | Winner | Sales Growth | Return on Equity(ROE) | Return on Invested Capital(ROIC) | Free Cash Flow | Price to Earnings(P/E) | EV/EBITDA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇸 | AAPL.US Apple Inc. | - | 12.76% | 141.47% | 99.68% | $129.2B | 39.46 | 30.34 |
| 2 | 🇺🇸 | MSFT.US Microsoft Corporation | - | 17.87% | 34.01% | 32.44% | $72.9B | 23.52 | 14.55 |
- Sales Growth
- 12.76%
- Return on Equity(ROE)
- 141.47%
- Return on Invested Capital(ROIC)
- 99.68%
- Free Cash Flow
- $129.2B
- Price to Earnings(P/E)
- 39.46
- EV/EBITDA
- 30.34
- Sales Growth
- 17.87%
- Return on Equity(ROE)
- 34.01%
- Return on Invested Capital(ROIC)
- 32.44%
- Free Cash Flow
- $72.9B
- Price to Earnings(P/E)
- 23.52
- EV/EBITDA
- 14.55