Two of the largest companies on the planet have also been among the biggest winners for investors over the years. Amazon (AMZN 1.16%) stock has skyrocketed more than 220,000% since its initial public offering (IPO) in 1997. Apple's (AAPL 0.85%) share price has soared more than 59,000% since its IPO in 1980.
However, accolades achieved in previous decades don't necessarily translate to future success. Just ask Blockbuster Video or Blackberry.
Which is the best stock to buy right now -- Amazon or Apple? Here's how the two stocks stack up against each other.
Recent stock performance
If you're a fan of momentum trading, Amazon will probably be more to your liking than Apple. Sure, shares of the e-commerce and cloud services giant tumbled earlier in the year over concerns about President Trump's tariffs. However, Amazon has been on a roll since late April, jumping nearly 30%.
What about Apple? The story isn't as positive. Apple stock also fell sharply over tariff worries. Although shares of the iPhone maker have rebounded somewhat, they remain down around 20% year to date.
Financial strength
Unsurprisingly, both Amazon and Apple are strong financially. Deciding which company is stronger, though, might depend on the financial metric you prioritize the most.
For example, Amazon has a larger cash position. Its cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, as of March 31, 2025, totaled over $94.5 billion. By comparison, Apple reported cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $48.5 billion, as of March 29, 2025.
However, Amazon also has a larger debt load of $157.9 billion, compared to $98.2 billion for Apple. If you focus more on net cash position adjusted for debt, Apple comes out on top.
One of the best measures of financial strength, in my opinion, is how much free cash flow a company generates. Apple's free cash flow over the last 12 months totaled $98.5 billion, much higher than Amazon's free cash flow of $25.9 billion.
Growth
Amazon is the clear leader when it comes to recent growth. In its most recent quarter, the company's revenue increased by 9% year over year and earnings soared 64% year over year. Apple's growth pales in comparison. The consumer-tech giant's revenue and earnings increased by around 5% year over year in its latest quarter.
Both Amazon and Apple could have solid growth prospects in the future. Amazon's cloud unit should remain a key growth driver for the company as organizations build and deploy artificial intelligence (AI) models in the cloud. The company also continues to expand into new areas, such as healthcare and satellite internet services. Apple is reportedly developing smart glasses, a new product that could potentially ignite sales growth.
Image source: Amazon.
Valuation
Apple's valuation looks more attractive than Amazon's, based on some key metrics. For example, Apple's forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 24.75 is lower than Amazon's forward earnings multiple of 33.4. Apple's price-to-earnings-to-growth ratio (PEG) of 1.8 is well below Amazon's multiple of 2.39.
However, Amazon fares better using one valuation metric: Its enterprise value-to-EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) ratio is 17.3, compared to 21.7 for Apple.
Dividend
Since Amazon doesn't pay a dividend, Apple wins in this category by default. However, income investors won't have much to get excited about with Apple's puny forward dividend yield of 0.53%.
Best stock to buy right now
Amazon tops Apple in recent stock performance and growth, but Apple appears to have an advantage in financial strength and valuation. The latter will also be at least slightly more appealing to income investors. Overall, these two stocks are neck and neck.
I'm more confident about Amazon's growth over the next few years than I am about Apple's, though. I also think that Amazon's impressive bottom-line improvement could shift some of the earnings-based valuation metrics in its favor over the next few years.
I like both Amazon and Apple and own both stocks. But if I had to pick the best stock to buy right now, it would be Amazon.
