MA vs MAR: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Mastercard Incorporated and Marriott International, Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-17.
Mastercard Incorporated · Financial Services
$574.42
+25.0% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade A-
High Quality
VS
Marriott International, Inc. · Consumer Cyclical
$334.97
+20.6% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C
QuantHub Verdict
MA has more upside to fair value
(+25.0%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MA |
MAR |
| Current Price |
$574.42 |
$334.97 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$718.00 |
$403.81 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+25.0%
|
+20.6%
|
| Market Cap |
$503.8B |
$87.3B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
23.4x
|
22.2x
|
| Price / Sales |
14.4x
|
3.2x
|
| Price / FCF |
30.8x
|
28.7x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+14.1%
|
+4.8%
|
| Gross Margin |
100%
|
20.2%
|
| Operating Margin |
59.8%
|
15.8%
|
| Return on Equity |
232.5%
|
-66.7%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.59% |
0.84% |
| FCF Yield |
3.25%
|
3.48%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Hold
|
Investment Thesis
Mastercard operates a global payments network that connects issuers, acquirers, merchants and consumers across more than 200 countries and territories, monetizing payment volumes, cross-border activity and higher-growth value-added services. Business quality is high because its two-sided network, trusted authorization-clearing-settlement infrastructure, brand, security capabilities and broad acce…
Marriott International is a global asset-light hotel franchisor and manager whose 10,082-property, 1.814 million-room system, 629,000-room development pipeline, broad brands, and more than 295 million Bonvoy members support durable fee-led economics. Business quality is tempered by cyclicality, competitive owner incentives, and $16.915 billion of debt, while reported ROE is negative 66.7%. In the…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MA |
MAR |
| Zone Low |
$538.50 |
$302.86 |
| Zone High |
$610.30 |
$343.24 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
Yes
|