MA vs MCD: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Mastercard Incorporated and McDonald's Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-07-20.
Mastercard Incorporated · Financial Services
$543.60
+45.0% upside to fair value
High Conviction
Grade A
High Quality
VS
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$267.71
+20.6% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C+
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
MA has more upside to fair value
(+45.0%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MA |
MCD |
| Current Price |
$543.60 |
$267.71 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$788.22 |
$322.85 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+45.0%
|
+20.6%
|
| Market Cap |
$480.3B |
$190.2B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
23.3x
|
16.4x
|
| Price / Sales |
14.2x
|
6.9x
|
| Price / FCF |
27.1x
|
27.0x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+15.8%
|
+9.4%
|
| Gross Margin |
83.0%
|
57.4%
|
| Operating Margin |
59.4%
|
46.0%
|
| Return on Equity |
206.1%
|
-433.9%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.62% |
2.75% |
| FCF Yield |
3.69%
|
3.7%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Buy
|
Investment Thesis
Mastercard operates a global two-sided payments network that connects issuers, acquirers, merchants and cardholders, monetizing payment volumes and an expanding set of security, data, authentication and other value-added services. Business quality is high: the network benefits from powerful acceptance and scale effects, 83.0% gross margin, 59.4% operating margin, 45.9% net margin, 206.1% ROE, and…
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 |
MA |
MCD |
| Zone Low |
$591.16 |
$242.14 |
| Zone High |
$669.99 |
$274.42 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
Yes
|