INTC vs MSFT: Which Is the Better Buy?

Side-by-side comparison of Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corporation โ€” fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals. Updated 2026-09-25.
Intel Corp. ยท Technology
$127.39
-8.4% upside to fair value
Low Conviction Grade D
VS
Microsoft Corporation ยท Technology
$497.12
+41.3% upside to fair value
High Conviction Grade A High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
MSFT has more upside to fair value (+41.3%). These are model outputs โ€” not personalized investment advice. See all research โ†’
Valuation & Fundamentals
Metric INTC MSFT
Current Price $127.39 $497.12
Fair Value Estimate $116.75 $702.35
Upside to Fair Value -8.4% +41.3%
Market Cap $642.6B $3,691.4B
Forward P/E โ€” โ€”
EV / EBITDA 185.2x 18.3x
Price / Sales 11.3x 11.1x
Price / FCF 229.7x 55.1x
Revenue Growth YoY +25.4% +17.7%
Gross Margin 38.9% 67.9%
Operating Margin 0.1% 46.8%
Return on Equity -10.8% 33.2%
Dividend Yield 0% 0.73%
FCF Yield 0.44% 1.81%
Analyst Consensus Hold Strong Buy
Investment Thesis
INTC โ€” Intel Corp.
Intel designs and manufactures CPUs, GPUs, networking silicon, and edge and data-center products across its Client Computing, Data Center and AI, and Intel Foundry segments, employing roughly 85,100 people under CEO Lip-Bu Tan. The business quality is currently low: TTM gross margin is 38.9%, TTM operating margin is 0.1%, TTM net margin is -19.8%, and ROE is -10.8%, so the company is not earning โ€ฆ
MSFT โ€” Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft is a global infrastructure-software platform spanning Azure, Microsoft 365, security, Dynamics, Windows, GitHub and AI copilots, with high business quality supported by enterprise distribution, explicitly cited switching costs, a $678 billion commercial RPO balance, 67.9% TTM gross margin, 46.8% TTM operating margin, 40.3% TTM net margin and 33.2% ROE. Revenue grew 17.7% and earnings grโ€ฆ
Accumulation Zones
Metric INTC MSFT
Zone Low $87.56 $526.76
Zone High $99.24 $597.00
In Buy Zone? No Yes
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