MCD vs MSFT: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of McDonald's Corporation and Microsoft Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-16.
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$252.78
+40.7% 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 |
MCD |
MSFT |
| Current Price |
$252.78 |
$497.12 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$355.71 |
$702.35 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+40.7%
|
+41.3%
|
| Market Cap |
$179.6B |
$3,691.4B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
15.5x
|
18.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
6.5x
|
11.1x
|
| Price / FCF |
23.1x
|
55.1x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+3.8%
|
+17.7%
|
| Gross Margin |
57.4%
|
67.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
45.8%
|
46.8%
|
| Return on Equity |
-561.2%
|
33.2%
|
| Dividend Yield |
2.94% |
0.73% |
| FCF Yield |
4.32%
|
1.81%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Buy
|
Strong Buy
|
Investment Thesis
McDonald's operates a globally scaled, approximately 95% franchised restaurant system with 46,028 restaurants in more than 100 countries, combining a powerful consumer brand, real-estate-backed franchise economics, supplier scale and digital loyalty reach. Business quality is high despite meaningful leverage: TTM gross, operating and net margins are 57.4%, 45.8% and 31.7%, respectively, while loy…
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 |
MCD |
MSFT |
| Zone Low |
$266.78 |
$526.76 |
| Zone High |
$302.35 |
$597.00 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
Yes
|