MCD vs WDC: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of McDonald's Corporation and Western Digital Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-19.
McDonald's Corporation · Consumer Cyclical
$252.78
+40.7% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade A
High Quality
VS
Western Digital Corporation · Technology
$441.36
-16.8% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C
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 |
WDC |
| Current Price |
$252.78 |
$441.36 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$355.71 |
$367.30 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+40.7%
|
-16.8%
|
| Market Cap |
$179.6B |
$152.1B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
15.5x
|
17.4x
|
| Price / Sales |
6.5x
|
11.8x
|
| Price / FCF |
23.1x
|
47.3x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+3.8%
|
+43.8%
|
| Gross Margin |
57.4%
|
48.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
45.8%
|
34.9%
|
| Return on Equity |
-561.2%
|
118.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
2.94% |
0.12% |
| FCF Yield |
4.32%
|
2.12%
|
| 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…
Western Digital designs and manufactures hard disk drives and flash-based storage for data centers, client devices, and consumer markets, and it is currently enjoying an extraordinary demand surge tied to AI infrastructure buildouts. In the most recent quarter, revenue grew 43.8% year over year and earnings grew 1143.2% year over year, while trailing twelve-month gross margin reached 48.9%, opera…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MCD |
WDC |
| Zone Low |
$266.78 |
$275.48 |
| Zone High |
$302.35 |
$312.20 |
| In Buy Zone? |
Yes
|
No
|