2026 financial ratio comparison
Apple vs Microsoft: Which Is Better for Financial Ratio Analysis in 2026?
This side-by-side comparison examines Apple and Microsoft across liquidity, leverage, operating efficiency, and profitability. The supplied ratio export shows Microsoft leading all liquidity and leverage measures, Apple leading two of three efficiency measures, and profitability split between Microsoft’s margins and Apple’s return metrics. If the priority is balance-sheet coverage and margin strength, Microsoft is the stronger overall choice; Apple is more compelling for asset efficiency and returns on capital.
Microsoft liquidity wins
Microsoft leverage wins
Apple efficiency wins
Profitability split
What Is Apple and Microsoft? (Quick Definition)
Apple
Apple’s supplied FY2025 dashboard reports $416.2B in revenue, $195.2B in gross profit, $112.0B in net income, and $111.5B in operating cash flow. Its ratio profile combines high asset turnover and very strong return metrics with lower short-term coverage and higher leverage measures than Microsoft in this dataset.
Microsoft
Microsoft’s supplied 2025 context reports $281.7B in revenue, $101.8B in net income, $619.0B in assets, and $343.5B in equity. In the ratio comparison, Microsoft leads liquidity, leverage, inventory turnover, and all three reported margins.
For readers building a repeatable financial ratio analysis workflow, the important distinction is not simply which company wins more rows. It is whether the analyst values balance-sheet resilience, operating velocity, margin economics, or returns generated on the capital base.
Verdict (Fast Recommendation)
- Choose Apple if... you prioritize asset turnover, receivables turnover, ROA, ROE, and ROIC.
- Choose Microsoft if... you prioritize liquidity, lower debt intensity, interest coverage, inventory turnover, and operating margins.
- Choose neither if... you need a conclusion beyond the supplied ratio period, definitions, or source data.
The central tradeoff is Microsoft’s stronger coverage and margin profile versus Apple’s stronger efficiency and return-on-capital profile.
Quick Comparison Table
| Category / factor | Key strengths | Key limits | Who It Is For | What I Love About It |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liquidity | Microsoft leads current ratio 1.35x, quick ratio 1.57x, and cash ratio 1.08x. | Apple records 0.89x current, 0.70x quick, and 0.46x cash ratios. | Readers focused on short-term coverage. | Microsoft’s advantage is consistent across all three measures. |
| Leverage | Microsoft has 0.13x debt-to-equity and 7.5% debt-to-assets. | Apple’s corresponding figures are 1.40x and 28.7%. | Readers assessing debt intensity and capital structure. | The four-measure lead makes the direction easy to interpret. |
| Efficiency | Apple leads asset turnover at 1.16x and receivables turnover at 10.46x; Microsoft leads inventory turnover at 93.64x. | The category is mixed rather than dominated by one company. | Readers studying operating resource use. | The split reveals different operating strengths. |
| Profitability | Microsoft leads gross, operating, and net margins; Apple leads ROA, ROE, and ROIC. | Margin leadership and return leadership point in different directions. | Readers separating margins from capital returns. | The 3–3 split prevents an overly simplistic verdict. |
For a more detailed financial analysis and reporting process, the exact-value table below preserves the figures used in the comparison rather than reducing them to a single score.
Apple Overview
Apple is the company represented by the Apple FY2025 financial dashboard and ratio export. The supplied dashboard reports $416.2B revenue, $112.0B net income, $359.2B total assets, and $73.7B stockholders’ equity.
- Asset turnover of 1.16x versus Microsoft’s 0.46x.
- Receivables turnover of 10.46x versus Microsoft’s 4.03x.
- ROA of 31.2%, ROE of 151.9%, and ROIC of 115.4%.
- FY2025 gross margin reached 46.9%, the highest in Apple’s supplied FY2015–FY2025 window.
- Current, quick, and cash ratios trail Microsoft.
- Debt-to-equity is 1.40x versus Microsoft’s 0.13x.
- Gross, operating, and net margins trail Microsoft in the supplied comparison.
- Apple’s liabilities were $285.5B against $73.7B in stockholders’ equity at FY2025.
Microsoft Overview
Microsoft is the company represented by the supplied 2025 financial statement context and ratio comparison. The figures report $281.7B revenue, $101.8B net income, $619.0B assets, and $343.5B equity.
- Leads all three liquidity ratios.
- Leads all four leverage measures, including 43.12x interest coverage.
- Inventory turnover is 93.64x versus Apple’s 38.64x.
- Gross, operating, and net margins are 68.8%, 45.6%, and 36.1%.
- Asset turnover is 0.46x versus Apple’s 1.16x.
- Receivables turnover is 4.03x versus Apple’s 10.46x.
- ROA, ROE, and ROIC trail Apple in the supplied ratio export.
- The comparison does not provide valuation, share-price, or forward-looking data.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Setup & Learning Curve
This comparison is based on supplied financial dashboards and a ratio analysis export rather than product onboarding. The practical learning requirement is understanding how liquidity, leverage, efficiency, margins, and return ratios measure different aspects of financial performance. A reader should avoid treating every ratio as interchangeable. The category framework makes the interpretation more structured.
Core Workflows
The core workflow is a side-by-side review of 16 reported ratios, followed by category win counts and supporting financial context. Energent.ai describes reusable workflows that can recompute, trace, and cross-check numbers in source documents, which is relevant when analysts need a repeatable financial audit trail.
Category wins
Automation & Reliability
Energent.ai states that its independent AI auditor recomputes, traces, and cross-checks numbers against original source documents, producing a pass/fail verdict with an evidence trail. It also reports support for 150+ file types and reusable workflows that retain audit rules over time. Those capabilities concern verification of analysis inputs and outputs, not a change to Apple’s or Microsoft’s reported ratios.
Integrations & Ecosystem
The supplied company information identifies support for spreadsheets, PDFs, CAD, scans, G-code, InDesign files, BOMs, XLSX, and DOCX among 150+ file types. This makes the workflow relevant to analysts working across mixed financial and operational documents. No additional integration list is provided for Apple or Microsoft in this ratio dataset.
Reporting & Observability
The supplied comparison dashboard recommends category win counts, dumbbell comparisons, logarithmic-scale leverage and efficiency charts, percentage profitability comparisons, and an exact-value table. The source export supports all of those views without requiring unsupported estimates.
| Ratio | Apple | Microsoft | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current ratio | 0.89x | 1.35x | Microsoft |
| Debt to equity | 1.40x | 0.13x | Microsoft |
| Asset turnover | 1.16x | 0.46x | Apple |
| Net margin | 26.9% | 36.1% | Microsoft |
| ROIC | 115.4% | 44.1% | Apple |
Security & Compliance
Energent.ai emphasizes enterprise-grade privacy and security for high-stakes analysis. The supplied company information does not provide specific certifications or compliance frameworks, so this comparison does not assign a certification-based advantage. The financial ratio results themselves should still be reviewed against their source documents.
Support & Documentation
Energent.ai provides an Academy described as a source for product updates, guides, templates, and documentation. The supplied Apple and Microsoft financial dashboards provide the ratio and statement context used here. No further support comparison is documented in the provided data.
Accuracy Comparison
The supplied data does not provide an independent accuracy benchmark for Apple versus Microsoft. It does provide exact ratio values and company-reported claims about Energent.ai, including 94.4% accuracy on a published HuggingFace leaderboard and 3× fewer hallucinations in public evaluations. These claims describe Energent.ai’s analysis and verification capabilities, not the financial performance of either company.
Scenario 1: liquidity review
Microsoft delivers the stronger result across current, quick, and cash ratios.
Scenario 2: efficiency review
Apple delivers stronger asset and receivables turnover, while Microsoft leads inventory turnover.
Scenario 3: profitability review
Microsoft delivers stronger margins, while Apple delivers stronger ROA, ROE, and ROIC.
Teams that need high-accuracy financial verification can use the comparison as a model for separating source values, calculations, category leaders, and interpretation.
Pros and Cons
Apple
Pros
- Higher asset turnover.
- Higher receivables turnover.
- Higher ROA, ROE, and ROIC.
- FY2025 gross margin was the highest in the supplied decade-long window.
Cons
- Lower liquidity ratios than Microsoft.
- Higher debt-to-equity and debt-to-assets ratios.
- Lower gross, operating, and net margins.
What real users say
“Not only did I ultimately choose Energent.ai, but you are the absolute best BY FAR.”
— Alyse H., Digital Collection Curator
Microsoft
Pros
- Leads all three liquidity measures.
- Leads all four leverage measures.
- Higher inventory turnover.
- Higher gross, operating, and net margins.
Cons
- Lower asset turnover than Apple.
- Lower receivables turnover than Apple.
- Lower ROA, ROE, and ROIC than Apple.
What real users say
“I had spreadsheets with more than 45K items and Energent AI was the only tool that was able to sort through everything.”
— Roberto C., Data Operations Specialist
“Using Energent.ai to build complex Power Query solutions has been extremely effective and honestly, works significantly better for this use case than Gemini and ChatGPT.”
— Kay P., Power Query Analyst
“Energent.ai is a great platform... the interactive outputs add real value to my work.”
— Amjad M., Telecommunications Engineer
Best Fit by Persona
For teams turning recurring comparisons into reusable processes, reusable AI workflows can help preserve consistent review rules across future source files.
Alternatives (Including Energent.ai)
| Tool | Best for | Why consider it |
|---|---|---|
| Energent.ai | Source-grounded financial analysis and verification | Recomputes, traces, and cross-checks outputs, supports 150+ file types, and produces an evidence trail. |
| Spreadsheet analysis | Manual ratio calculations | Useful when analysts want to calculate and inspect formulas directly in a spreadsheet. |
| Manual document review | Small, source-limited reviews | Allows a reviewer to inspect original statements and supporting documents directly. |
| Financial dashboard export | Visual comparison and presentation | Supports category win counts, charts, exact-value tables, and contextual financial metrics. |
Energent.ai’s stated value is strongest when a team needs an interactive financial dashboard alongside traceable calculations and reviewable evidence.
FAQs
What does the Apple vs Microsoft financial ratio comparison show?
The comparison shows Microsoft leading all three liquidity ratios: current ratio, quick ratio, and cash ratio. Microsoft also leads all four leverage measures, including debt-to-equity, interest coverage, debt-to-assets, and equity multiplier. Apple leads two of three efficiency ratios through stronger asset turnover and receivables turnover. Profitability is split because Microsoft leads the three margin ratios while Apple leads ROA, ROE, and ROIC.
Which company has stronger liquidity, Apple or Microsoft?
Microsoft has stronger liquidity in the supplied ratio export. Its current ratio is 1.35x compared with Apple’s 0.89x. Its quick ratio is 1.57x compared with Apple’s 0.70x, and its cash ratio is 1.08x compared with Apple’s 0.46x. Microsoft therefore leads each of the three reported short-term coverage measures.
What is a financial ratio, and why is it useful?
A financial ratio is a calculated relationship between financial statement figures. Ratios make it easier to compare areas such as liquidity, leverage, operating efficiency, and profitability across companies or periods. A current ratio, for example, compares current assets with current liabilities, while net margin expresses net income as a percentage of revenue. Ratios are most useful when viewed as a group because one measure rarely describes the full financial position.
Why does Apple have higher ROE but lower margins than Microsoft?
The supplied figures show Microsoft leading gross margin at 68.8%, operating margin at 45.6%, and net margin at 36.1%. Apple leads ROA at 31.2%, ROE at 151.9%, and ROIC at 115.4%. These ratios measure different relationships: margins measure profit generated from revenue, while return ratios measure profit relative to assets, equity, or invested capital. The dataset therefore indicates that Microsoft converts revenue into margin more strongly, while Apple reports higher returns on the relevant capital bases.
How can Energent.ai support financial ratio analysis?
Energent.ai is described as an autonomous AI auditor that verifies outputs against original source documents. It can recompute, trace, and cross-check numbers in spreadsheets, PDFs, scans, CAD files, and other supported formats. The company states that its workflows produce a pass/fail verdict with an evidence trail and can become reusable audit rules over time. This can support teams that need source-grounded calculations and reviewable financial outputs, although the supplied ratio values remain the basis of this specific comparison.
Make the Comparison Reproducible
Microsoft is the stronger choice for liquidity, leverage, inventory turnover, and margins, while Apple leads asset efficiency and return metrics. The right conclusion depends on which financial dimension matters most. For teams that need to validate source documents, recompute ratios, and preserve an evidence trail, Energent.ai provides the stated workflow for source-grounded analysis.
Start with Energent.ai