MA vs MRK: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Mastercard Incorporated and Merck & Co., Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-07-17.
Mastercard Incorporated · Financial Services
$543.60
+45.0% upside to fair value
High Conviction
Grade A
High Quality
VS
Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare
$113.87
-12.1% upside to fair value
Grade D
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 |
MRK |
| Current Price |
$543.60 |
$113.87 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$788.22 |
$100.14 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+45.0%
|
-12.1%
|
| Market Cap |
$480.3B |
$281.2B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
32.0x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
23.3x
|
17.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
14.2x
|
4.3x
|
| Price / FCF |
27.1x
|
19.9x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+15.8%
|
+4.3%
|
| Gross Margin |
83.0%
|
75.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
59.4%
|
27.6%
|
| Return on Equity |
206.1%
|
17.9%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.62% |
0% |
| FCF Yield |
3.69%
|
5.02%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Hold
|
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…
Merck & Co., Inc. is a leading global healthcare company specializing in pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and animal health products. Its business quality is high, supported by a durable competitive moat anchored in the dominant global position of Keytruda in PD-1/PD-L1 oncology, a strong vaccines portfolio including Gardasil, and scale in R&D and manufacturing. The company benefits from a seasoned lea…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MA |
MRK |
| Zone Low |
$591.16 |
$75.11 |
| Zone High |
$669.99 |
$85.12 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
No
|