MCD vs V: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of McDonald's Corporation and Visa Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-04-11.
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$305.68
+4.7% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B
VS
Visa Inc. · Financial Services
$304.36
+37.7% upside to fair value
High Conviction
Grade A-
QuantHub Verdict
V has more upside to fair value
(+37.7%).
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 |
MCD |
V |
| Current Price |
$305.68 |
$304.36 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$320.00 |
$419.00 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+4.7%
|
+37.7%
|
| Market Cap |
$218.1B |
$586.8B |
| Forward P/E |
24.5x
|
23.7x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
18.6x
|
22.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
8.1x
|
14.2x
|
| Price / FCF |
30.3x
|
25.6x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+3.7%
|
+11.3%
|
| Gross Margin |
57.4%
|
81.08%
|
| Operating Margin |
46.1%
|
59.18%
|
| Return on Equity |
—
|
54.22%
|
| Dividend Yield |
2.4% |
0.83% |
| FCF Yield |
3.3%
|
3.91%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Buy
|
Strong Buy
|
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…
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 |
MCD |
V |
| Zone Low |
$240.00 |
$265.00 |
| Zone High |
$272.00 |
$300.00 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|