AXP vs MA vs MORN Stock Comparison

American Express, Mastercard and Morningstar Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
AXP American Express Co
$323.70 +6.0% 1M -9.6% 1Y
Market cap
$217.20B
P/E
17.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$77.59B
Div. yield
1.13%
Money Center Banks Financial Services
4 wins
MA Mastercard Inc
$635.70 +12.8% 1M +14.6% 1Y
Market cap
$553.50B
P/E
30.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$36.29B
Div. yield
0.55%
Payment Networks Financial Services
5 wins
MORN Morningstar, Inc.
$222.54 +19.4% 1M +6.6% 1Y
Market cap
$8.26B
P/E
18.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.62B
Div. yield
0.90%
Financial Data and Analytics Financial Services
3 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Mastercard leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Mastercard 5, American Express 4, Morningstar 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAXPMAMORNLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $217.20B $553.50B $8.26B MA
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 17.8x 30.6x 18.7x AXP
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 18.4x 30.3x 17.6x MORN
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +10.2% +15.3% +9.4% MA
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 15.8% — 17.0% MORN
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 19.6% — 17.8% AXP
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.5x — 1.4x AXP
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 1.13% 0.55% 0.90% AXP
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -9.6% +14.6% +6.6% MA
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +13.3%/yr +13.6%/yr -6.8%/yr MA
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 26.2% 22.9% 41.6% MA
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 47/100 44/100 67/100 MORN

Percentile Scorecard

AXPMAMORN

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAXPMAMORN
Valuation 20 #289 of 361 9 #857 of 941 45 #522 of 941
Growth 42 #89 of 153 66 #213 of 615 82 #111 of 615
Profitability 69 #41 of 128 95 #29 of 586 84 #97 of 586
Financial Health 45 #78 of 140 43 #380 of 667 49 #343 of 667
Shareholder Returns 59 #138 of 335 6 #660 of 704 75 #177 of 704
Overall 47 44 67
  • AXP ranked among 368 companies in Banking
  • MA ranked among 1,003 companies in Financial Services
  • MORN ranked among 1,003 companies in Financial Services

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAXPMAMORNSPY
1 month +6.0%+12.8%+19.4% +0.7%
3 months -4.1%+10.1%+15.2% +3.7%
6 months +0.2%+26.4%+31.9% +7.1%
Year to date -12.5%+11.4%+2.4% +12.8%
1 year -9.6%+14.6%+6.6% +11.9%
3 years +125.9%+70.7%-11.5% +85.2%
3 years, per year +31.2%+19.5%-4.0% +22.8%
5 years +86.3%+89.5%-29.7% +67.6%
5 years, per year +13.3%+13.6%-6.8% +10.9%
10 years +387.1%+494.7%+218.2% +262.0%
10 years, per year +17.2%+19.5%+12.3% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureAXPMAMORNSPY
Volatility, 1Y 26.2%22.9%41.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 30.1%22.5%43.3% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.920.250.03 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.370.640.16 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -32.0%-28.6%-60.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -15.9%0.0%-1.2% -1.2%
52-week high $384.89$635.70$225.29 $779.14
52-week low $292.27$471.55$141.84 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAXPMAMORN
P/E now vs peer median 17.8xmedian 12.2x 30.6xmedian 13.0x 18.7xmedian 13.0x
P/S now vs peer median 2.8xmedian 3.4x 15.3xmedian 3.2x 3.2xmedian 3.2x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 9.0xmedian 5.3x —median 7.7x 11.1xmedian 7.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 15.6xmedian 10.8x 29.4xmedian 10.7x 16.8xmedian 10.7x
P/B now vs peer median 6.1xmedian 1.2x 82.1xmedian 1.2x 8.1xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.96median 1.34 —median 0.90 0.20median 0.90

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAXPMAMORN
Revenue $77.59B $36.29B $2.62B
Gross profit – – $1.65B
Operating income – $21.27B $643.50M
Net income $12.26B $16.96B $445.50M
Free cash flow $13.91B – $492.80M
EPS (diluted) $18.18 – $11.79
Cash & equivalents $43.20B $10.15B $496.70M
Total debt $59.95B – $1.68B
Shares (diluted) 674.00M 883.00M 37.80M
Enterprise value $16.68B $553.49B $6.15B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAXPMAMORN
P/E 17.8x 30.6x 18.7x
P/FCF 15.6x 29.4x 16.8x
P/Operating cash flow 12.3x 32.8x 12.9x
P/S 2.8x 15.3x 3.2x
P/B 6.1x 82.1x 8.1x
P/Tangible book 6.1x 534.3x 17.4x
EV/EBITDA 9.0x – 11.1x
EV/EBIT 9.8x – 14.6x
EV/Revenue 2.9x 15.3x 3.6x
EV/FCF 16.5x – 19.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 13.0x 32.8x 14.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.96 – 0.20

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAXPMAMORN
Revenue growth (1Y) 10.2% 15.3% 9.4%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 9.6% 14.2% 9.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – 13.3%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – 13.1%
Operating income growth (1Y) – 18.6% 20.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – 15.4% 55.3%
Net income growth (1Y) 16.3% 19.0% 18.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 15.2% 15.8% 84.5%
EPS growth (1Y) 19.5% – 32.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 18.5% – 92.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -16.6% -3.5% 19.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -4.5% 15.5% 31.5%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -26.6% – 25.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -9.2% – 46.4%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAXPMAMORN
Gross margin – – 63.1%
EBITDA margin 32.6% – 32.4%
Operating margin – – 24.5%
Pretax margin 19.9% – 22.6%
Net margin 15.8% – 17.0%
FCF margin 17.9% – 18.8%
Operating cash flow margin 22.7% 46.5% 24.5%
Return on equity 35.0% 274.6% 43.5%
Return on assets 4.0% 29.3% 11.3%
Return on invested capital 19.6% – 17.8%
Return on capital employed – – 21.9%
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.6x 0.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 1.0x 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue 0.8% 1.8% 2.5%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAXPMAMORN
Debt / assets 19.3% – 42.5%
Debt / equity 1.7x – 1.6x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.5x – 1.4x
Debt / FCF 4.3x – 3.4x
Liabilities / assets 88.5% 88.4% 74.0%
Equity / assets 11.5% 11.6% 26.0%
Interest coverage 3.0x – –
Current ratio – 1.0x 1.0x
Quick ratio – – 0.9x
Cash ratio – – 0.5x
Altman Z-score – – 3.79

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAXPMAMORN
Dividend yield 1.1% 0.5% 0.9%
Net buyback yield 3.1% – 10.8%
Shareholder yield 4.2% 0.5% 11.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAXPMAMORN
Forward P/E 18.4xFY2026 30.3xFY2026 17.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $17.56FY2026 $20.99FY2026 $12.66FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +14.2%FY2026 +23.4%FY2026 +28.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +21.2% +14.7% +7.8%
Revenue, next fiscal year $82.04BFY2026 $38.99BFY2026 $2.50BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +13.6%FY2026 +18.9%FY2026 +1.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -0.3% +0.4% +19.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAXPMAMORN
Held by institutions 84.9% 87.5% 64.1%
Institutions holding 3,011 3,585 420
Change in shares held, QoQ -0.3% +0.6% +2.1%
Institutions buying 1,474 1,590 199
Institutions selling 1,052 1,527 169
Buyers to sellers 1.40 1.04 1.18

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

AXPMAMORN
AXP 1.00 0.47 0.17
MA 0.47 1.00 0.43
MORN 0.17 0.43 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AXP, MA and MORN?

Mastercard (MA) is the largest by market capitalisation: American Express (AXP) $217.20B, Mastercard (MA) $553.50B, Morningstar (MORN) $8.26B.

Which stock is cheaper, AXP, MA and MORN?

American Express (AXP) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (American Express (AXP) 17.8x, Mastercard (MA) 30.6x, Morningstar (MORN) 18.7x). On next year's consensus earnings, Morningstar (MORN) is cheapest (American Express (AXP) 18.4x, Mastercard (MA) 30.3x, Morningstar (MORN) 17.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Mastercard (MA) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: American Express (AXP) +10.2%, Mastercard (MA) +15.3%, Morningstar (MORN) +9.4%.

Which company is more profitable?

Morningstar (MORN) has the highest net margin (American Express (AXP) 15.8%, Morningstar (MORN) 17.0%). On return on invested capital, American Express (AXP) leads (American Express (AXP) 19.6%, Morningstar (MORN) 17.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Mastercard (MA) returned the most: American Express (AXP) -9.6%, Mastercard (MA) +14.6%, Morningstar (MORN) +6.6%. Over five years, Mastercard (MA) compounded fastest (American Express (AXP) +13.3%/yr, Mastercard (MA) +13.6%/yr, Morningstar (MORN) -6.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

American Express (AXP) has the highest dividend yield: American Express (AXP) 1.13%, Mastercard (MA) 0.55%, Morningstar (MORN) 0.90%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Mastercard (MA) has been the steadiest (American Express (AXP) 26.2%, Mastercard (MA) 22.9%, Morningstar (MORN) 41.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, AXP, MA and MORN?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Mastercard (MA) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.