Which Is a Better Investment, Arista Networks Inc or Motorola Solutions Inc Stock?

By Jenna Brashear
September 06, 2026
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Sifting through countless of stocks in the Communications Equipment industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc.

Arista Networks, Inc. engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for AI, data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications. The company offers data center, cloud and AI networking, cognitive adjacencies, and cognitive network software and services. It also provides post contract customer support services, such as technical support, hardware repair and replacement parts beyond standard warranty, bug fixes, patches, and upgrade services. The company serves a range of industries comprising internet companies, cloud service providers, financial services organizations, government agencies, media and entertainment, healthcare, oil and gas, education, manufacturing, industrial, and others. It markets and sells its products through distributors, system integrators, value-added resellers, and original equipment manufacturer partners, as well as through its direct sales force. Arista Networks, Inc. was formerly known as Arastra, Inc. and changed its name to Arista Networks, Inc. in October 2008. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Motorola Solutions, Inc. provides public safety, government, defense, and enterprise security solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Products and Systems Integration, and Software and Services. The Products and Systems Integration segment offers a portfolio of infrastructure, devices, accessories, and the implementation and integration of systems, devices, software, and applications for government, including defense, public safety, and enterprise customers who operate private communications systems and video security solutions, as well as manage a mobile workforce. This segment also provides mission critical networks, and video security and access control technologies, including two-way portable and vehicle-mounted radios, video cameras, and accessories; communications network core and central processing software, base stations, consoles, and repeaters; and video analytics, network video management hardware and software, and access control solutions. The Software and Services segment offers public safety and enterprise command center, unified communications applications, mobile video equipment, and video software solutions; repair, technical support, and maintenance services; and monitoring, software updates, and cybersecurity services to government, public safety, and commercial communications networks. It serves hospitality; manufacturing; military and defence; police; air transportation; fire and rescue; stadium; emergency medical services; mining; oil and gas; transportation and logistics; utilities; education; retail; and healthcare industries. The company was formerly known as Motorola, Inc. and changed its name to Motorola Solutions, Inc. in January 2011. Motorola Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Latest Communications Equipment and Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions, Inc. Stock News

As of September 4, 2026, Arista Networks, Inc. had a $244.4 billion market capitalization, compared to the Communications Equipment median of $372.5 million. Arista Networks, Inc.’s stock is up 47.9% in 2026, down 0.8% in the previous five trading days and up 37.27% in the past year.

Currently, Arista Networks, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 61.3. Arista Networks, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $10.5 billion with a 38.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 37.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.113 per share for the current fiscal year. Arista Networks, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

As of September 4, 2026, Motorola Solutions, Inc. had a $77.5 billion market cap, putting it in the 96th percentile of all stocks. Motorola Solutions, Inc.’s stock is up 22.1% in 2026, down 3.7% in the previous five trading days and down 2.21% in the past year.

Currently, Motorola Solutions, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 36.9. Motorola Solutions, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $12.2 billion with a 17.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 13.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $17.688 per share for the current fiscal year. Motorola Solutions, Inc. currently has a 1.0% dividend yield.

How We Compare Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc. Growth Grades

Company Ticker Growth
Arista Networks, Inc. ANET B
Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI A

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Arista Networks, Inc. has a Growth Score of 69, which is Strong. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a Growth Score of 100, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Motorola Solutions, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Arista Networks, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Motorola Solutions, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company Ticker Quality
Arista Networks, Inc. ANET B
Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI A

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Arista Networks, Inc. has a Quality Score of 72, which is Strong. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a Quality Score of 83, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: Motorola Solutions, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a better overall quality grade than Arista Networks, Inc.. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Motorola Solutions, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company Ticker Momentum
Arista Networks, Inc. ANET B
Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI C

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Arista Networks, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 76, which is Strong. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 53, which is Average.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Arista Networks, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Arista Networks, Inc. is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Motorola Solutions, Inc.. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Arista Networks, Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Don’t Forget Your Free Special Report on How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Investment Decisions

Other Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc. Grades

In addition to Momentum, Quality and Growth, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Estimate Revisions.

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Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Arista Networks, Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 69, Momentum Score of 76 and Quality Score of 72.

Motorola Solutions, Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 100, Momentum Score of 53 and Quality Score of 83.

Comparing Arista Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

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AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



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