BAC vs MA: Which Is the Better Buy?

Side-by-side comparison of Bank of America Corporation and Mastercard Incorporated โ€” fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals. Updated 2026-04-11.
Bank of America Corporation ยท Financial Services
$52.54
+7.3% upside to fair value
Grade B+
VS
Mastercard Incorporated ยท Financial Services
$498.66
+22.3% upside to fair value
High Conviction Grade A-
QuantHub Verdict
MA has more upside to fair value (+22.3%). BAC trades at a lower forward P/E (12.1x). These are model outputs โ€” not personalized investment advice. See all research โ†’
Valuation & Fundamentals
Metric BAC MA
Current Price $52.54 $498.66
Fair Value Estimate $56.39 $610.00
Upside to Fair Value +7.3% +22.3%
Market Cap $377.1B $445.0B
Forward P/E 12.1x 25.5x
EV / EBITDA 12.8x 22.4x
Price / Sales 2.0x 13.6x
Price / FCF 29.9x 26.0x
Revenue Growth YoY -0.5% +16.4%
Gross Margin 56.1% 83.4%
Operating Margin 19.7% 59.2%
Return on Equity 10.1% 198.4%
Dividend Yield 2.09% 0.65%
FCF Yield 3.35% 3.84%
Analyst Consensus Buy Strong Buy
Investment Thesis
BAC โ€” Bank of America Corporation
Bank of America is a top-two U.S. bank by assets with $3.4 trillion on its balance sheet, generating $30.5 billion in net income in 2025 on the back of 12.5% earnings growth. The bank benefits from scale in consumer deposits, a recovering investment banking franchise, and an expanding digital platform serving 47 million active users. At 12.7x trailing earnings and 1.97x sales, BAC trades at a faiโ€ฆ
MA โ€” Mastercard Incorporated
Mastercard operates one of the world's two dominant payment networks, processing over $9 trillion in gross dollar volume annually across 220+ countries. The business generates 83% gross margins and 46% net margins with zero credit risk because Mastercard never lends money, only collecting tolls on every transaction. Value-Added Services (analytics, fraud prevention, cybersecurity) now comprise 41โ€ฆ
Accumulation Zones
Metric BAC MA
Zone Low $42.29 $460.00
Zone High $47.93 $515.00
In Buy Zone? No Yes
โ† BAC Research    MA Research โ†’    All Research