CRM vs MA: Which Is the Better Buy?

Side-by-side comparison of Salesforce, Inc. and Mastercard Incorporated โ€” fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals. Updated 2026-04-16.
Salesforce, Inc. ยท Technology
$181.22
+161.6% upside to fair value
High Conviction Grade A-
VS
Mastercard Incorporated ยท Financial Services
$498.66
+22.3% upside to fair value
High Conviction Grade A-
QuantHub Verdict
CRM has more upside to fair value (+161.6%). CRM trades at a lower forward P/E (22.7x). These are model outputs โ€” not personalized investment advice. See all research โ†’
Valuation & Fundamentals
Metric CRM MA
Current Price $181.22 $498.66
Fair Value Estimate $474.00 $610.00
Upside to Fair Value +161.6% +22.3%
Market Cap $169.8B $445.0B
Forward P/E 22.7x 25.5x
EV / EBITDA โ€” 22.4x
Price / Sales 4.1x 13.6x
Price / FCF 11.8x 26.0x
Revenue Growth YoY +9.2% +16.4%
Gross Margin 77.7% 83.4%
Operating Margin 21.5% 59.2%
Return on Equity 12.4% 198.4%
Dividend Yield โ€” 0.65%
FCF Yield 8.5% 3.84%
Analyst Consensus Strong Buy Strong Buy
Investment Thesis
CRM โ€” Salesforce, Inc.
Salesforce is the leading global provider of CRM software, offering a strong competitive moat through market dominance and high switching costs, complemented by acquisitions like Slack and Tableau, with excellent margins above 77% gross and robust free cash flow of $15.16 per share. Despite decelerating revenue growth at 9.2% YoY and negative earnings growth of -6.9%, the business remains high-quโ€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 CRM MA
Zone Low $356.00 $460.00
Zone High $403.00 $515.00
In Buy Zone? Yes Yes
โ† CRM Research    MA Research โ†’    All Research