COST vs MCD: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Costco Wholesale Corporation and McDonald's Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-07-20.
Costco Wholesale Corporation · Consumer Defensive
$947.50
-1.4% upside to fair value
Grade C
High Quality
VS
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$267.71
+20.6% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C+
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
MCD has more upside to fair value
(+20.6%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
COST |
MCD |
| Current Price |
$947.50 |
$267.71 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$933.84 |
$322.85 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-1.4%
|
+20.6%
|
| Market Cap |
$420.2B |
$190.2B |
| Forward P/E |
47.6x
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
28.3x
|
16.4x
|
| Price / Sales |
1.4x
|
6.9x
|
| Price / FCF |
47.7x
|
27.0x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+11.6%
|
+9.4%
|
| Gross Margin |
12.9%
|
57.4%
|
| Operating Margin |
3.8%
|
46.0%
|
| Return on Equity |
28.3%
|
-433.9%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
2.75% |
| FCF Yield |
2.1%
|
3.7%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Buy
|
Buy
|
Investment Thesis
Costco Wholesale Corporation operates as a membership-only warehouse club offering a wide range of merchandise at low prices. The company exhibits high business quality with a durable competitive moat driven by cost advantages, strong brand loyalty, and efficient operations, reflected in a robust ROE of 28.3% and solid revenue growth of 11.6% in the most recent quarter. Despite these strengths, t…
McDonald's is a global quick-service restaurant franchisor and real-estate platform whose approximately 95% franchised restaurant base generates unusually high-margin, recurring royalty and rent income, supporting a 46.0% operating margin and 31.6% net margin. Business quality is high because its brand, global purchasing scale, nearly 29,000 drive-thrus, digital ecosystem and 210 million 90-day a…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
COST |
MCD |
| Zone Low |
$700.38 |
$242.14 |
| Zone High |
$793.76 |
$274.42 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
Yes
|