MA vs PYPL: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Mastercard Incorporated and PayPal Holdings, 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
PayPal Holdings, Inc. · Financial Services
$42.51
+45.0% upside to fair value
Grade B
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MA |
PYPL |
| Current Price |
$543.60 |
$42.51 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$788.22 |
$61.64 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+45.0%
|
+45.0%
|
| Market Cap |
$480.3B |
$37.5B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
7.7x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
23.3x
|
5.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
14.2x
|
1.1x
|
| Price / FCF |
27.1x
|
6.8x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+15.8%
|
+7.2%
|
| Gross Margin |
83.0%
|
46.1%
|
| Operating Margin |
59.4%
|
17.9%
|
| Return on Equity |
206.1%
|
25.1%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.62% |
0% |
| FCF Yield |
3.69%
|
14.71%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Sell
|
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…
PayPal Holdings, Inc. operates as a leading global digital payments platform with a competitive moat driven by its extensive network effects, brand recognition, and scale. Despite a durable business model with 2025 revenue of $33.17 billion growing at 4.3% year-over-year and a strong return on equity of 25.1%, the company faces slowing growth and margin pressures, reflected in a 13.5% decline in …
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MA |
PYPL |
| Zone Low |
$591.16 |
$46.23 |
| Zone High |
$669.99 |
$52.39 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
Yes
|