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 2026-05-20.
Mastercard Incorporated · Financial Services
$499.81
+5.0% upside to fair value
Grade B+
High Quality
VS
Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare
$114.27
+3.3% upside to fair value
Grade C
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
MA has more upside to fair value
(+5.0%).
MRK trades at a lower forward P/E
(22.4x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MA |
MRK |
| Current Price |
$499.81 |
$114.27 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$525.00 |
$118.00 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+5.0%
|
+3.3%
|
| Market Cap |
$441.6B |
$282.2B |
| Forward P/E |
28.6x
|
22.4x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
21.3x
|
13.5x
|
| Price / Sales |
13.0x
|
4.3x
|
| Price / FCF |
24.9x
|
20.2x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+15.8%
|
+5.0%
|
| Gross Margin |
83.0%
|
81.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
59.4%
|
27.5%
|
| Return on Equity |
206.1%
|
5.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.6% |
2.91% |
| FCF Yield |
4.01%
|
4.95%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Overweight
|
Investment Thesis
Mastercard is one of two global payment network duopolists alongside Visa, with structurally high margins (83% gross, 59% operating, 46% net), powerful network effects, and durable secular tailwinds from the ongoing cash-to-card and card-to-digital migration. Q1 2026 results reported April 30 showed revenue of $8.40 billion (+15.8% YoY) and EPS of $4.35 (+20.8% YoY), driven by continued cross-bor…
Merck delivered a clean Q1 2026 operational beat on April 30, with revenue of 16.3 billion dollars growing 5 percent year over year and Keytruda sales rising 12 percent to 8.0 billion dollars. The reported loss of 1.28 dollars per share, though better than the negative 1.47 dollar consensus estimate, reflected a 3.62 dollar per share IPR and D charge tied to the Cidara Therapeutics acquisition an…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MA |
MRK |
| Zone Low |
$393.75 |
$88.50 |
| Zone High |
$446.25 |
$100.30 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|