MCD vs TTD: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of McDonald's Corporation and The Trade Desk, Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-18.
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$252.78
+40.7% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade A
High Quality
VS
The Trade Desk, Inc. · Communication Services
$14.26
-1.8% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C
High Quality
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 |
TTD |
| Current Price |
$252.78 |
$14.26 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$355.71 |
$14.00 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+40.7%
|
-1.8%
|
| Market Cap |
$179.6B |
$6.7B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
15.5x
|
7.5x
|
| Price / Sales |
6.5x
|
2.2x
|
| Price / FCF |
23.1x
|
7.8x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+3.8%
|
+3.0%
|
| Gross Margin |
57.4%
|
83.0%
|
| Operating Margin |
45.8%
|
19.6%
|
| Return on Equity |
-561.2%
|
16.1%
|
| Dividend Yield |
2.94% |
0% |
| FCF Yield |
4.32%
|
12.89%
|
| 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…
The Trade Desk operates a self-service, cloud-based demand-side platform that lets advertising agencies and their advertiser clients plan, buy and optimize data-driven digital campaigns across display, video, audio, native, social and connected TV, with 3,843 employees and a founder-led management team. Business quality is genuinely high on the unit economics: TTM gross margin of 83.0%, TTM opera…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MCD |
TTD |
| Zone Low |
$266.78 |
$10.50 |
| Zone High |
$302.35 |
$11.90 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
No
|