MA vs V: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Mastercard Incorporated and Visa Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-05-13.
Mastercard Incorporated · Financial Services
$499.81
+5.0% upside to fair value
Grade B+
High Quality
VS
Visa Inc. · Financial Services
$304.36
+45.0% upside to fair value
High Conviction
Grade A-
QuantHub Verdict
V has more upside to fair value
(+45.0%).
V trades at a lower forward P/E
(23.7x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MA |
V |
| Current Price |
$499.81 |
$304.36 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$525.00 |
$441.32 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+5.0%
|
+45.0%
|
| Market Cap |
$441.6B |
$586.8B |
| Forward P/E |
28.6x
|
23.7x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
21.3x
|
22.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
13.0x
|
14.2x
|
| Price / FCF |
24.9x
|
25.6x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+15.8%
|
+11.3%
|
| Gross Margin |
83.0%
|
81.08%
|
| Operating Margin |
59.4%
|
59.18%
|
| Return on Equity |
206.1%
|
54.22%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.6% |
0.83% |
| FCF Yield |
4.01%
|
3.91%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Strong Buy
|
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…
Visa is the world's dominant payment network with $40B in net revenue (FY2025), 50%+ net margins, and a capital-light toll-booth model processing $14.2T in annual payment volume across 257.5B transactions. The business compounds at 10-12% revenue CAGR with operating leverage pushing EPS growth to 12-15% over a cycle, funded by $21.6B in annual free cash flow against only $1.5B in capex. At 28.0x …
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MA |
V |
| Zone Low |
$393.75 |
$330.99 |
| Zone High |
$446.25 |
$375.12 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
Yes
|