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 2026-05-05.
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$305.68
+4.7% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B
VS
PayPal Holdings, Inc. · Financial Services
$50.39
+110.0% upside to fair value
Grade B
QuantHub Verdict
PYPL has more upside to fair value
(+110.0%).
PYPL trades at a lower forward P/E
(9.0x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MCD |
PYPL |
| Current Price |
$305.68 |
$50.39 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$320.00 |
$105.84 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+4.7%
|
+110.0%
|
| Market Cap |
$218.1B |
$45.3B |
| Forward P/E |
24.5x
|
9.0x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
18.6x
|
6.1x
|
| Price / Sales |
8.1x
|
1.4x
|
| Price / FCF |
30.3x
|
8.2x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+3.7%
|
+3.7%
|
| Gross Margin |
57.4%
|
46.6%
|
| Operating Margin |
46.1%
|
18.3%
|
| Return on Equity |
—
|
25.9%
|
| Dividend Yield |
2.4% |
0% |
| FCF Yield |
3.3%
|
12.27%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Buy
|
Sell
|
Investment Thesis
McDonald's operates the world's largest quick-service restaurant franchise with over 40,000 locations across 100+ countries, generating $26.9B in FY2025 revenue with roughly 60% from franchised operations. The asset-light franchise model produces 46% operating margins and $7.2B in annual free cash flow. Revenue growth reaccelerated modestly to 3.7% in FY2025 from 1.7% in FY2024, driven by the Int…
PayPal Holdings, Inc. operates as a leading digital payments platform offering transaction processing and value-added financial services such as consumer credit and BNPL products. The business quality is medium due to a narrowing competitive moat amid increasing pressure from big tech competitors and slowing growth in its core branded checkout segment. The stock is currently mispriced and cheap, …
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MCD |
PYPL |
| Zone Low |
$240.00 |
$79.38 |
| Zone High |
$272.00 |
$89.96 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
Yes
|