Apple Inc. vs Seagate Technology Holdings plc, two Computer Hardware stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Economically these are different species sharing a sector tag: Apple sells a consumer franchise with pricing power, Seagate sells drives into a storage cycle it does not control. The cycle is currently generous, a 32% operating margin at Seagate that matches Apple's, and 22% net. Seagate's 217% return on equity is an artifact worth naming: 3.5 turns of debt to equity have shrunk the denominator until the ratio stops meaning much. The multiples split anyway, 85 times Seagate's earnings to Apple's 34, the market paying up for where the storage cycle might go rather than what either company earned last year. A franchise at 34 times and a cyclical at 85 is an unusual ordering; it is a bet on AI-era data growth, stated in a price.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | AAPL | STX |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $282.12 | $896.74 |
| Market cap | $4.15T | $205.4B |
| Sector | Computer Hardware | Computer Hardware |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +32.6% | — |
| P/E | 34.1 | 85.1 |
| P/B | 39.01 | 187.54 |
| P/S | 9.20 | 18.65 |
| EV/EBITDA | 27.9 | 65.5 |
| Revenue growth | +12.4% | +29.1% |
| Gross margin | 49.3% | — |
| Operating margin | 32.3% | 32.1% |
| Net margin | 27.1% | 21.6% |
| Return on equity | 115.1% | 217.2% |
| Return on assets | 33.0% | 26.7% |
| Return on invested capital | 61.6% | 54.2% |
| FCF yield | 3.1% | 1.2% |
| Dividend yield | 0.4% | 0.3% |
| Debt / equity | 0.85 | 3.53 |
| Current ratio | 1.07 | 1.33 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.61 | 6.66 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 5 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.