Editor’s note: A prior version of this article had incorrect P/E information. We regret the error.

In celebration of March Madness, the Motley Fool is pitting 16 editor-selected companies in a fierce Stock Madness bracket. We will show you how the companies rank based on five key metrics, but your votes will determine the winner of each match-up.  

This matchup is Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) vs. Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO). Using five short-of-scientific-but-carefully chosen criteria, let's determine which is the better buy according to the numbers:

 

Factor

Apple

Cisco Systems

Cheapness

(P/E ratio)

22.2

25.6

Growth

(5-year growth rate)

50.4%

6.2%

Operations

(net margin %)

17.78%

17.08%

Balance Sheet

(debt/equity ratio)

.00

.37

CAPS Rating

(scale of 1 to 5 stars)

3 Stars

4 Stars

Round 1: Cheapness

Advantage: Apple. Cheapness is determined by P/E ratio. The lower the better. Be careful of earnings near zero that skew the ratio, one-time gains and losses, and pasts that aren’t indicative of futures (the more dynamic the industry, the more this is true).

Round 2: Growth

Advantage: Apple. Growth here is the trailing 5-year EPS growth rate. This trailing earnings growth helps put notoriously-optimistic Wall Street projections in perspective.

Round 3: Operations

Advantage: Apple. Net margin percentage shows how efficiently a company turns revenue into profit. The more similar the business models, the more relevant the comparison.

Round 4: Balance sheet

Advantage: Apple. As with net margins, the debt to capital ratio is most relevant in comparing companies in similar industries. In this battle we give the nod to the lower-debt company, but attention should also be paid to the cost of debt, interest coverage ratios, and the stability of the business (the more stable a company’s operations, the more debt it can safely carry).

Round 5: CAPS rating

Advantage: Cisco. A company’s CAPS rating is our community’s opinion of the stock. You can get more information on your stocks -- and our community’s opinions of those stocks -- by clicking over to CAPS area.

Each of these five rankings need more context to determine how these companies stack up against each other and bracket competitors Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). But these basic numbers suggest that Apple is a better buy. It’s up to you, though. Vote for the winner in the poll located below the bracket.