GOOGL vs IBM vs PLTR Stock Comparison

Alphabet, International Business Machines and Palantir Technologies Prices as of Oct 28, 2026 Peers: Industry group
GOOGL Alphabet Inc.
$324.89 -5.2% 1M +21.5% 1Y
Market cap
$3.49T
P/E
14.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$471.10B
Div. yield
–
Digital Advertising Technology
5 wins

Head to Head

8 decided of 12

Alphabet leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Alphabet 5, Palantir Technologies 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionGOOGLIBMPLTRLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.49T $238.46B $468.30B GOOGL
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 14.8x 21.3x 155.2x GOOGL
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 15.4x 19.3x 118.6x GOOGL
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +22.2% +6.8% +78.9% PLTR
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — — 49.0% –
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — — — –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — — — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +21.5% -19.0% +3.8% GOOGL
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +17.0%/yr +16.2%/yr +50.1%/yr PLTR
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 31.3% 50.7% 59.4% GOOGL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 54/100 56/100 68/100 PLTR

Percentile Scorecard

GOOGLIBMPLTR

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisGOOGLIBMPLTR
Valuation 30 #117 of 166 65 #14 of 38 20 #81 of 101
Growth 82 #29 of 152 29 #26 of 36 100 #1 of 97
Profitability 62 #58 of 152 91 #4 of 34 96 #5 of 94
Financial Health 79 #38 of 179 41 #23 of 38 98 #3 of 108
Shareholder Returns 19 #76 of 94 – 27 #47 of 64
Overall 54 56 68
  • GOOGL ranked among 185 companies in Internet Platforms
  • IBM ranked among 39 companies in Cloud Computing
  • PLTR ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodGOOGLIBMPLTRSPY
1 month -5.2%+14.8%+5.0% +0.9%
3 months -3.5%+11.8%+60.0% +5.9%
6 months -7.2%+11.5%+42.6% +8.5%
Year to date +3.8%-14.5%+10.7% +13.3%
1 year +21.5%-19.0%+3.8% +12.4%
3 years +165.9%+77.7%+1,206.0% +88.1%
3 years, per year +38.6%+21.1%+135.6% +23.5%
5 years +119.4%+111.8%+660.5% +68.2%
5 years, per year +17.0%+16.2%+50.1% +11.0%
10 years +692.8%+73.6%— +263.4%
10 years, per year +23.0%+5.7%— +13.8%

Risk

MeasureGOOGLIBMPLTRSPY
Volatility, 1Y 31.3%50.7%59.4% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 28.9%59.7%55.7% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.350.831.97 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.69-0.370.06 0.98
Max drawdown, 5Y -44.3%-37.4%-77.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high -19.3%-23.1%-5.9% -0.9%
52-week high $402.62$329.23$209.05 $779.14
52-week low $267.47$205.96$107.27 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleGOOGLIBMPLTR
P/E now vs peer median 16.8xmedian 16.8x 21.3xmedian 27.6x 156.6xmedian 27.6x
P/S now vs peer median 8.4xmedian 1.4x 3.4xmedian 4.8x 76.8xmedian 2.7x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 13.9x —median 24.1x 174.1xmedian 17.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 77.8xmedian 11.4x 15.0xmedian 15.0x 140.8xmedian 15.8x
P/B now vs peer median 5.8xmedian 1.8x 6.6xmedian 4.4x 47.8xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.29median 0.36 1.33median 0.38 0.55median 0.84

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsGOOGLIBMPLTR
Revenue $471.10B $69.87B $6.16B
Gross profit – $40.50B $5.22B
Operating income $156.98B – $2.63B
Net income $235.69B $11.17B $3.03B
Free cash flow – – $3.36B
R&D $74.46B – $641.24M
EPS (diluted) $19.12 $11.72 $1.17
Cash & equivalents $56.33B $9.23B $2.03B
Shares (diluted) 12.31B 953.30M 2.57B
Enterprise value $3.17T $238.46B $437.25B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricGOOGLIBMPLTR
P/E 16.8x 21.3x 156.6x
P/FCF 77.8x 15.0x 140.8x
P/Operating cash flow 22.0x 15.1x 139.1x
P/S 8.4x 3.4x 76.8x
P/B 5.8x 6.6x 47.8x
P/Tangible book 5.9x 10.6x 47.8x
EV/EBITDA – – 174.1x
EV/EBIT – – 175.9x
EV/Revenue 7.8x 3.4x 75.3x
EV/FCF – – 138.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 20.5x 15.1x 136.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.29 1.33 0.55

Growth

14 metrics
MetricGOOGLIBMPLTR
Revenue growth (1Y) 22.2% 6.8% 78.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 16.6% 4.5% 44.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 7.1% 89.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 6.4% 47.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) 26.5% – 362.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 25.8% – 247.7%
Net income growth (1Y) 89.7% 41.3% 292.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 52.3% 17.3% 308.7%
EPS growth (1Y) 87.8% 40.6% 294.3%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 57.2% 16.1% 286.3%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 18.6% 17.4% 96.6%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 19.0% 5.6% 103.5%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – – 96.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – – 107.6%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricGOOGLIBMPLTR
Gross margin – – 84.8%
EBITDA margin – – 43.3%
Operating margin – – 42.8%
Pretax margin – – 49.9%
Net margin – – 49.0%
FCF margin – – 54.6%
Operating cash flow margin 38.1% 22.7% 55.2%
Return on equity 35.8% 31.6% 32.9%
Return on assets 24.5% 7.3% 27.7%
Return on invested capital – – –
Return on capital employed – – 28.0%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.5x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.8x 1.4x 1.1x
Stock comp / revenue 6.5% 2.8% 13.6%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricGOOGLIBMPLTR
Debt / assets – – –
Debt / equity – – –
Net debt / EBITDA – – –
Debt / FCF – – –
Liabilities / assets 32.5% 76.6% 15.4%
Equity / assets 67.5% 23.4% 84.6%
Interest coverage – – –
Current ratio 2.8x 0.9x 7.2x
Quick ratio 2.0x – 7.1x
Cash ratio 2.0x – 6.1x
Altman Z-score – – 160.25

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricGOOGLIBMPLTR
Dividend yield 0.3% 2.7% –
Net buyback yield – – 0.0%
Shareholder yield 0.3% 2.7% 0.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusGOOGLIBMPLTR
Forward P/E 15.4xFY2026 19.3xFY2026 118.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $21.10FY2026 $13.14FY2026 $1.66FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +95.2%FY2026 +13.4%FY2026 +121.3%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after -31.6% -1.8% +47.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $528.22BFY2026 $66.37BFY2026 $8.41BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +31.1%FY2026 -1.7%FY2026 +87.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +21.6% +15.8% +37.8%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersGOOGLIBMPLTR
Held by institutions 80.1% 65.1% 60.3%
Institutions holding 5,741 3,635 2,837
Change in shares held, QoQ +4.6% +3.5% +10.9%
Institutions buying 2,657 1,975 1,481
Institutions selling 2,573 1,227 1,093
Buyers to sellers 1.03 1.61 1.35

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

GOOGLIBMPLTR
GOOGL 1.00 0.04 0.24
IBM 0.04 1.00 0.26
PLTR 0.24 0.26 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, GOOGL, IBM and PLTR?

Alphabet (GOOGL) is the largest by market capitalisation: Alphabet (GOOGL) $3.49T, International Business Machines (IBM) $238.46B, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) $468.30B.

Which stock is cheaper, GOOGL, IBM and PLTR?

Alphabet (GOOGL) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Alphabet (GOOGL) 14.8x, International Business Machines (IBM) 21.3x, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 155.2x). On next year's consensus earnings, Alphabet (GOOGL) is cheapest (Alphabet (GOOGL) 15.4x, International Business Machines (IBM) 19.3x, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 118.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Alphabet (GOOGL) +22.2%, International Business Machines (IBM) +6.8%, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) +78.9%.

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Alphabet (GOOGL) returned the most: Alphabet (GOOGL) +21.5%, International Business Machines (IBM) -19.0%, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) +3.8%. Over five years, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) compounded fastest (Alphabet (GOOGL) +17.0%/yr, International Business Machines (IBM) +16.2%/yr, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) +50.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Alphabet (GOOGL) has been the steadiest (Alphabet (GOOGL) 31.3%, International Business Machines (IBM) 50.7%, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 59.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, GOOGL, IBM and PLTR?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Alphabet (GOOGL) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.