LULU vs MCD: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Lululemon Athletica Inc. and McDonald's Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-07-20.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. · Consumer Cyclical
$116.33
+45.0% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B-
VS
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$267.71
+20.6% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C+
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
LULU has more upside to fair value
(+45.0%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
LULU |
MCD |
| Current Price |
$116.33 |
$267.71 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$168.68 |
$322.85 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+45.0%
|
+20.6%
|
| Market Cap |
$13.2B |
$190.2B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
5.3x
|
16.4x
|
| Price / Sales |
1.2x
|
6.9x
|
| Price / FCF |
10.3x
|
27.0x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+4.3%
|
+9.4%
|
| Gross Margin |
55.7%
|
57.4%
|
| Operating Margin |
18.2%
|
46.0%
|
| Return on Equity |
31.3%
|
-433.9%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
2.75% |
| FCF Yield |
9.69%
|
3.7%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Hold
|
Buy
|
Investment Thesis
Lululemon Athletica is a premium athletic-apparel retailer whose technical-product innovation, powerful brand, direct-to-consumer retail and e-commerce model, and community-led marketing have historically supported high returns, including a 31.3% ROE, 55.7% gross margin, 18.2% operating margin, and 13.0% net margin. The investment case is now a turnaround rather than a clean compounding story: in…
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 |
LULU |
MCD |
| Zone Low |
$126.51 |
$242.14 |
| Zone High |
$143.38 |
$274.42 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
Yes
|