HD vs MCD: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of The Home Depot, Inc. and McDonald's Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-25.
The Home Depot, Inc. · Consumer Cyclical
$292.18
+44.2% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B
High Quality
VS
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$252.78
+40.7% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade A
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
HD has more upside to fair value
(+44.2%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
HD |
MCD |
| Current Price |
$292.18 |
$252.78 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$421.26 |
$355.71 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+44.2%
|
+40.7%
|
| Market Cap |
$291.3B |
$179.6B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
14.7x
|
15.5x
|
| Price / Sales |
1.7x
|
6.5x
|
| Price / FCF |
19.2x
|
23.1x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+5.7%
|
+3.8%
|
| Gross Margin |
33.2%
|
57.4%
|
| Operating Margin |
12.4%
|
45.8%
|
| Return on Equity |
102.7%
|
-561.2%
|
| Dividend Yield |
3.18% |
2.94% |
| FCF Yield |
5.2%
|
4.32%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Buy
|
Investment Thesis
The Home Depot is the largest home-improvement retailer in the United States, operating a network of roughly 2,300 stores supported by about 472,400 full-time employees, and serving both do-it-yourself homeowners and professional contractors through stores, homedepot.com, and specialty sites such as blinds.com. The business quality is high: it generates a 102.7% return on equity, a 33.2% trailing…
McDonald's operates a globally scaled, approximately 95% franchised restaurant system with 46,028 restaurants in more than 100 countries, combining a powerful consumer brand, real-estate-backed franchise economics, supplier scale and digital loyalty reach. Business quality is high despite meaningful leverage: TTM gross, operating and net margins are 57.4%, 45.8% and 31.7%, respectively, while loy…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
HD |
MCD |
| Zone Low |
$315.94 |
$266.78 |
| Zone High |
$358.07 |
$302.35 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
Yes
|