Apple Inc. (AAPL)vs Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)

Quick verdict

Apple sells devices — iPhone, Mac, iPad, wearables — and layers subscription services on top of the installed base; Amazon runs a marketplace, a cloud platform in AWS, Prime and an advertising arm. The economics show it. On the twelve months to late June 2026, Apple turned $466.8bn of revenue into $154.9bn of operating profit, a 33.2% operating margin, while Amazon converted a larger $775.7bn of revenue at a 12.1% operating margin. Markets price that gap: Apple trades at 39.3x trailing earnings and 10.7x sales at the 14 October 2026 close, Amazon at 3.5x sales and 16.6x EV/EBITDA against Apple's 30.1x. Of six factors, valuation went to Amazon and quality and income to Apple; growth, balance sheet and momentum could not be scored. Apple finishes 3.5 to 2.5, but the two are not substitutes for one another.

At-a-glance comparison

Not scored — Growth: no three-year EPS growth for AMZN. Balance sheet: no interest coverage for AAPL. Momentum: no share-price return data for either company. A factor missing a figure for either company cannot be won by either, so it adds half a point to each score, as a tie does.

Business model and revenue mix

One is a hardware franchise with a services annuity attached; the other is an infrastructure and retail conglomerate. Apple's revenue of $466.8bn in the twelve months to 27 June 2026 comes from devices and from App Store, iCloud, Apple Music and Apple Pay, and it carries a 48.7% gross margin with 33.2% dropping through to operating profit. Amazon's $775.7bn of revenue over the twelve months to 30 June 2026 — roughly two-thirds larger — carries a slightly higher 50.8% gross margin but only a 12.1% operating margin, the signature of fulfilment, logistics and data-centre costs sitting below the gross line. Share counts differ too: 14.6bn Apple shares against 10.8bn for Amazon. Note that Amazon's net income of $135.3bn exceeds its $93.7bn operating profit, a gap arising outside operations.

Valuation

Amazon takes this factor. At the 14 October 2026 close, Apple's $5.0tn market capitalisation equates to 39.3x trailing earnings, 10.7x sales, 46.6x book and 30.1x EV/EBITDA, with a PEG of 5.72. Amazon's $2.7tn capitalisation works out at 3.5x sales, 5.0x book and 16.6x EV/EBITDA — cheaper on every measure the two share. Amazon's trailing P/E has been withheld as not interpretable here, because net income of $135.3bn sits well above operating profit of $93.7bn and the resulting multiple would reflect non-operating gains rather than trading performance. Cash generation points the same way as the headline multiples, though: Apple yields 2.73% on free cash flow, whereas Amazon's free cash flow was negative $11.6bn, a yield of minus 0.42%, reflecting heavy capital spending.

Growth profile

This factor could not be scored, because Amazon's three-year earnings-per-share CAGR is unavailable — it is not computed when EPS was a loss at either end of the window or a stock split falls inside it. What the available figures show: Amazon grew revenue at 11.7% a year from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2025 and 13.2% a year from fiscal 2020, against Apple's 1.8% and 8.7% over the same two windows. On earnings, Apple compounded EPS at 6.9% over three years and 17.9% over five; Amazon's five-year EPS CAGR of 28.0% starts from fiscal 2020, a far lower base. Apple's five-year revenue rate also flatters relative to its recent three-year pace, which has slowed markedly to under 2% annually.

Profitability and quality

Quality goes to Apple, and the margin is wide. Return on invested capital of 84.1% over the twelve months to June 2026 compares with 12.0% for Amazon — the better comparison of the two, since Apple's 148.8% return on equity is inflated by years of buybacks shrinking the equity base to $107.5bn against Amazon's $551.6bn. Apple's net margin of 27.6% on $466.8bn of revenue produced $128.9bn of net income. Amazon's net margin and return on equity have been withheld as not interpretable, because its $135.3bn of net income includes substantial non-operating gains above the $93.7bn operating result. On the operating line, which is reported by both, the contrast is 33.2% for Apple against 12.1% for Amazon — capital-light devices and services versus capital-heavy fulfilment and cloud.

Balance-sheet risk

No verdict is possible on this factor: Apple's interest coverage is absent, as it requires both operating profit and a reported interest expense, and without it the two cannot be compared on like terms. The figures that do exist are close in character. Apple held $39.5bn of cash against $84.3bn of total debt at 27 June 2026, giving net debt of 0.27x EBITDA; Amazon held $78.2bn of cash against $132.5bn of debt at 30 June 2026, for 0.32x. Liquidity is thin at both by conventional standards — a current ratio of 1.00 at Apple and 1.03 at Amazon — though both generate large operating cash flows. Amazon's reported interest coverage of 28.1x indicates its own interest burden is comfortably covered by operating profit.

Price performance and shareholder returns

Income is Apple's, by default as much as by scale: it paid $1.05 per share over the trailing year for a 0.31% yield, on a payout ratio of just 12.1%, and retired stock worth a further 1.64% of its market value. Amazon pays no dividend at all and its buyback yield is zero, so the entire shareholder return proposition rests on reinvestment — consistent with free cash flow of negative $11.6bn as capital expenditure runs ahead of operating cash. Apple, by contrast, converted its revenue into $136.7bn of free cash flow in the twelve months to June 2026. Momentum could not be scored for either company, as we hold no licensed share-price history and therefore no one-, three- or five-year return figures for Apple or Amazon.

Which stock fits which investor

The style tags capture it: Apple is tagged mature and high-quality, Amazon a blend. An investor prioritising current cash returns and margin stability would note Apple's 33.2% operating margin, 84.1% ROIC and $136.7bn of free cash flow, and would have to accept 39.3x earnings and 46.6x book to own it. One prioritising top-line expansion and a lower entry multiple would look at Amazon's 11.7% three-year revenue CAGR and 3.5x sales. In the best-for picks, Amazon takes value and also growth — though the growth pick rests on revenue growth alone, since that factor could not be scored. Apple takes income and quality, the latter chosen on return on invested capital. Neither is a proxy for the other: one is consumer electronics, the other internet retail and cloud infrastructure.

• Value: AMZN
• Growth: AMZN
• Income: AAPL
• Quality: AAPL

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper, Apple or Amazon?

Amazon, on every multiple the two share at the 14 October 2026 close: 3.5x sales versus Apple's 10.7x, 5.0x book versus 46.6x, and 16.6x EV/EBITDA versus 30.1x. Amazon's trailing P/E was withheld as not interpretable, because its net income of $135.3bn sits well above its $93.7bn operating profit.

Why is Apple's return on equity so high?

Apple's return on equity of 148.8% is inflated by sustained buybacks, which have reduced shareholders' equity to $107.5bn — small relative to $128.9bn of trailing net income. Return on invested capital of 84.1% is the more meaningful figure, and it still dwarfs Amazon's 12.0%.

Does either company pay a dividend?

Apple does, at $1.05 per share over the trailing twelve months for a 0.31% yield and a 12.1% payout ratio, supplemented by a 1.64% buyback yield. Amazon pays no dividend and its buyback yield is zero.

Why is Amazon's free cash flow negative?

Amazon's free cash flow was negative $11.6bn in the twelve months to 30 June 2026, a free cash flow yield of minus 0.42%, as capital spending ran ahead of operating cash generation. Apple produced $136.7bn of free cash flow over its comparable period.

Which company is growing faster?

Amazon on revenue: 11.7% a year from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2025 and 13.2% a year from fiscal 2020, against Apple's 1.8% and 8.7%. The growth factor itself could not be scored because Amazon's three-year EPS CAGR is unavailable.

Go deeper: guides for this comparison

• Big tech compared: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Amazon by the numbersThe largest technology companies on one table — growth, margins, the cash cost of the AI build-out, and what each valuation assumes — built from their SEC filings.
• Dividends vs buybacks: how companies hand cash back, and how to judge itDividend yield, payout ratio and buyback yield explained with real companies, why a high yield can be a warning, and how to tell whether a payout is sustainable.
• EV/EBITDA explained: valuing the whole business, not just the sharesHow enterprise value and EBITDA work, why EV/EBITDA and P/E can disagree by a mile, its blind spots, and what the gap tells you about Alphabet, Amazon and Micron.
• Free cash flow yield: the valuation measure that is hardest to fakeWhy cash beats reported earnings, how free cash flow yield works, and what the gap between profit and cash reveals at Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce.

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