MA vs MS: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Mastercard Incorporated and Morgan Stanley — 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
Morgan Stanley · Financial Services
$218.37
+45.0% upside to fair value
Grade B
High Quality
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MA |
MS |
| Current Price |
$543.60 |
$218.37 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$788.22 |
$316.64 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+45.0%
|
+45.0%
|
| Market Cap |
$480.3B |
$344.4B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
23.6x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
23.3x
|
9.8x
|
| Price / Sales |
14.2x
|
2.7x
|
| Price / FCF |
27.1x
|
-327.4x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+15.8%
|
+22.4%
|
| Gross Margin |
83.0%
|
56.6%
|
| Operating Margin |
59.4%
|
28.4%
|
| Return on Equity |
206.1%
|
23.4%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.62% |
0% |
| FCF Yield |
3.69%
|
—
|
| 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…
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm specializing in capital markets, wealth management, and investment banking. The company demonstrates high business quality with a strong return on equity of 23.4% and robust revenue growth of 22.4% in the most recent quarter, alongside impressive earnings growth of 57.7% in the same period. Its gross margin of 56.6% and net margin of 20.2…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MA |
MS |
| Zone Low |
$591.16 |
$237.48 |
| Zone High |
$669.99 |
$269.14 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
Yes
|