Apple Inc. (AAPL)vs Chevron Corporation (CVX)

Quick verdict

Apple sells iPhones, Macs and a widening subscription services layer; Chevron pumps, refines and sells hydrocarbons. One responds to consumer upgrade cycles and installed-base monetisation, the other to the crude price, and the figures show it. On the twelve months to late June 2026 Apple turned $466.8bn of revenue into $128.9bn of net income, against Chevron's $208.7bn and $20.6bn. The factor split is even at three points apiece: Chevron takes valuation and income, Apple takes growth and quality. The balance-sheet factor could not be scored because no interest-coverage figure is available for Apple, and momentum is never scored here as we hold no licensed share-price history. At the 14 October 2026 close Apple traded on 39.3 times trailing earnings and Chevron on 21.4 — the gap is the price of consistency versus the discount on cyclicality.

At-a-glance comparison

Not scored — 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

Apple designs and sells consumer hardware — iPhone, Mac, iPad and wearables — and layers recurring revenue on top through the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music and Apple Pay. Its fiscal year ends in September, and the trailing twelve months to 27 June 2026 cover $466.8bn of revenue with $136.7bn of free cash flow. Chevron is an integrated energy company: upstream oil and gas production, refining into fuels, and petrochemicals. Its December year-end and the twelve months to 30 June 2026 produced $208.7bn of revenue and $27.0bn of free cash flow. Apple is roughly twice Chevron's size by revenue and around six times by net income. Chevron reports no separate operating-income line, so its operating profit of $32.1bn is measured before interest and tax; Apple's $154.9bn is as reported.

Valuation

On every multiple in the dataset, Chevron is the cheaper share, and the valuation factor goes to it. At the 14 October 2026 close Chevron traded on 21.4 times trailing earnings, 2.1 times sales, 2.31 times book and 8.4 times EV/EBITDA, with a free cash flow yield of 6.16%. Apple carried 39.3 times earnings, 10.72 times sales, 46.55 times book, 30.1 times EV/EBITDA and a 2.73% free cash flow yield. The price-to-book gap is the most extreme: Apple's equity base is just $107.5bn against a $5,005.2bn market capitalisation, so book value says little about the business. Apple's PEG of 5.72 shows the rating is not obviously underwritten by near-term earnings growth. No PEG is shown for Chevron, whose trailing earnings per share have been falling.

Growth profile

Growth goes to Apple, though neither record is linear. Apple compounded revenue at 8.68% a year over the five fiscal years from 2020 to 2025 and earnings per share at 17.86%, but the shorter window is far tamer: 1.81% revenue growth and 6.88% EPS growth annually from fiscal 2022 to 2025. Chevron's five-year revenue CAGR of 14.32% is the higher figure, but it starts from fiscal 2020, a pandemic-depressed year for crude, and so flatters the trend; the three-year picture from 2022 to 2025 shows revenue shrinking 7.85% a year and earnings per share falling 28.69% a year as oil prices normalised. No five-year EPS growth rate is available for Chevron, which is what happens when earnings were a loss at one end of the window.

Profitability and quality

Margins separate these two more cleanly than anything else. Apple converted 48.65% of revenue into gross profit, 33.17% into operating profit and 27.62% into net income over the twelve months to June 2026. Chevron's gross margin of 43.65% is closer than expected, but the funnel narrows sharply thereafter: 15.37% at the operating line — measured before interest and tax, since no operating-income line is reported — and 9.87% at the bottom. In cash terms Apple produced $136.7bn of free cash flow, more than five times Chevron's $27.0bn, despite revenue being only about twice as large. Chevron's margins are a function of realised crude and refining spreads rather than pricing power, which is why they move with the cycle while Apple's have held up across the same period.

Balance-sheet risk

This factor could not be scored, because no interest-coverage figure is available for Apple — that calculation needs both operating profit and a reported interest expense, and the latter is absent. What can be stated: at 27 June 2026 Apple held $39.5bn of cash against $84.3bn of total debt, equating to net debt of 0.27 times EBITDA, with a current ratio of 1.0. Chevron, at 30 June 2026, held $8.5bn of cash against $37.1bn of debt, 0.51 times EBITDA, with a current ratio of 1.25 and interest covered 22.5 times by operating profit. Both leverage ratios sit well below one turn of EBITDA, so neither company looks stretched; Chevron holds the more comfortable working-capital position, while Apple's thinner current ratio reflects its deliberately lean cash-conversion cycle.

Price performance and shareholder returns

Quality goes to Apple on returns on capital, and the margin is wide. Return on invested capital stands at 84.08% against Chevron's 10.05%. The headline return on equity of 148.75% should be read with care: years of buybacks have shrunk Apple's equity base to $107.5bn, mechanically inflating the ratio, so ROIC is the fairer read — and it still dwarfs Chevron's. Chevron's 12.22% ROE against a $189.9bn equity base is a more conventional figure for a capital-intensive energy producer whose returns rise and fall with commodity prices. Share-price momentum cannot be assessed on this page at all, as we hold no licensed price history for either company, so one-, three- and five-year returns are absent for both. Both firms return cash: buyback yields of 1.64% at Apple and 2.54% at Chevron.

Which stock fits which investor

The income factor goes to Chevron and the gap is large: a 3.14% dividend yield from $6.98 per share over the trailing twelve months, versus Apple's 0.31% from $1.05. Chevron's 67.33% payout ratio leaves less headroom than Apple's 12.13%, but it delivers far more cash today. Our best-for tags name Chevron for both value and income, and Apple for growth and quality. Value rests on Chevron's 21.4 times earnings and 6.16% free cash flow yield; the quality pick reflects Apple's 84.08% ROIC. Style-wise Apple reads as mature and high-quality, Chevron as income and mature. The overall score is level at three points each, with two factors — balance sheet and momentum — unscored and contributing half a point to each side rather than favouring either company.

• Value: CVX
• Growth: AAPL
• Income: CVX
• Quality: AAPL

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper, Apple or Chevron?

Chevron, on every multiple available at the 14 October 2026 close: 21.4 times trailing earnings versus Apple's 39.3, 2.1 times sales versus 10.72, and 8.4 times EV/EBITDA versus 30.07. Chevron's free cash flow yield of 6.16% also exceeds Apple's 2.73%.

Why is Apple's return on equity so high?

Apple's 148.75% ROE is inflated by a shrunken equity base — shareholders' equity was just $107.5bn at 27 June 2026 after sustained buybacks. Return on invested capital of 84.08% is the more meaningful figure, and it still far exceeds Chevron's 10.05%.

Which pays the better dividend?

Chevron, by a wide margin: a 3.14% yield from $6.98 per share over the trailing twelve months, against Apple's 0.31% from $1.05. Chevron's payout ratio is 67.33% compared with Apple's 12.13%.

Why wasn't the balance-sheet factor decided?

It could not be scored because no interest-coverage figure exists for Apple, which requires both operating profit and a reported interest expense. Chevron's coverage is 22.5 times. Leverage is modest at both: net debt of 0.27 times EBITDA at Apple and 0.51 times at Chevron.

Is Chevron's 14.32% five-year revenue growth reliable?

It should be read with its starting point in mind — the five-year window begins in fiscal 2020, a depressed year for crude. Over the shorter 2022 to 2025 window revenue fell 7.85% a year and earnings per share fell 28.69% a year.

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.
• How to compare bank stocks: JPMorgan vs Bank of AmericaWhy the usual ratios fail for banks, how price-to-book and return on equity work together, what our bank pages show, and the numbers you still need from the filings.
• Oil stocks compared: Exxon Mobil, Chevron and the commodity cycleExxon Mobil and Chevron on the same filings: why both show shrinking growth, how they turn oil prices into cash, and what their dividends and buybacks rest on.
• Balance-sheet risk: net debt, interest cover and the current ratioThe three numbers that show whether a company can carry its debt, how to read each one, and what they reveal about Pfizer, Intel, Disney and Palantir.

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