MA vs MSFT: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Mastercard Incorporated and Microsoft Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-16.
Mastercard Incorporated · Financial Services
$574.42
+25.0% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade A-
High Quality
VS
Microsoft Corporation · Technology
$497.12
+41.3% upside to fair value
High Conviction
Grade A
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
MSFT has more upside to fair value
(+41.3%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MA |
MSFT |
| Current Price |
$574.42 |
$497.12 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$718.00 |
$702.35 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+25.0%
|
+41.3%
|
| Market Cap |
$503.8B |
$3,691.4B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
23.4x
|
18.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
14.4x
|
11.1x
|
| Price / FCF |
30.8x
|
55.1x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+14.1%
|
+17.7%
|
| Gross Margin |
100%
|
67.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
59.8%
|
46.8%
|
| Return on Equity |
232.5%
|
33.2%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.59% |
0.73% |
| FCF Yield |
3.25%
|
1.81%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Strong Buy
|
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…
Microsoft is a global infrastructure-software platform spanning Azure, Microsoft 365, security, Dynamics, Windows, GitHub and AI copilots, with high business quality supported by enterprise distribution, explicitly cited switching costs, a $678 billion commercial RPO balance, 67.9% TTM gross margin, 46.8% TTM operating margin, 40.3% TTM net margin and 33.2% ROE. Revenue grew 17.7% and earnings gr…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MA |
MSFT |
| Zone Low |
$538.50 |
$526.76 |
| Zone High |
$610.30 |
$597.00 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
Yes
|