MCD vs PYPL: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of McDonald's Corporation and PayPal Holdings, Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-17.
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$252.78
+40.7% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade A
High Quality
VS
PayPal Holdings, Inc. · Financial Services
$52.71
+9.1% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B-
QuantHub Verdict
MCD has more upside to fair value
(+40.7%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MCD |
PYPL |
| Current Price |
$252.78 |
$52.71 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$355.71 |
$57.50 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+40.7%
|
+9.1%
|
| Market Cap |
$179.6B |
$45.1B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
15.5x
|
6.8x
|
| Price / Sales |
6.5x
|
1.3x
|
| Price / FCF |
23.1x
|
7.2x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+3.8%
|
+4.8%
|
| Gross Margin |
57.4%
|
45.8%
|
| Operating Margin |
45.8%
|
18.8%
|
| Return on Equity |
-561.2%
|
24.4%
|
| Dividend Yield |
2.94% |
1.06% |
| FCF Yield |
4.32%
|
13.97%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Buy
|
Hold
|
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…
PayPal operates a global digital-payments platform spanning branded checkout, Venmo, Braintree merchant processing, credit products and fraud-risk infrastructure across approximately 200 markets. Business quality is medium: its two-sided network, trusted brand, broad merchant distribution and risk capabilities remain meaningful assets, but its highest-value branded-checkout franchise is under com…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MCD |
PYPL |
| Zone Low |
$266.78 |
$43.12 |
| Zone High |
$302.35 |
$48.88 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
No
|