MA vs MCO vs COF Stock Comparison

Mastercard, Moodys and Capital One Financial Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
MA Mastercard Inc
$623.47 +11.3% 1M +8.7% 1Y
Market cap
$541.87B
P/E
33.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$35.08B
Div. yield
–
Payment Networks Financial Services
7 wins
MCO Moodys Corp /De/
$483.45 +2.0% 1M +0.9% 1Y
Market cap
$83.73B
P/E
29.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.18B
Div. yield
0.01%
Financial Data and Analytics Financial Services
COF Capital One Financial Corp
$201.33 +2.6% 1M -8.5% 1Y
Market cap
$125.54B
P/E
12.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$62.02B
Div. yield
0.02%
Money Center Banks Financial Services
5 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Mastercard leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Mastercard 7, Capital One Financial 5). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionMAMCOCOFLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $541.87B $83.73B $125.54B MA
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 33.3x 29.0x 12.3x COF
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 29.7x 26.8x 10.3x COF
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +16.0% +9.0% +45.3% COF
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 46.3% 35.3% 16.4% MA
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 59.0% 27.9% 14.4% MA
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.6x 1.3x 1.2x MA
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.01% 0.02% COF
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +8.7% +0.9% -8.5% MA
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +11.7%/yr +4.8%/yr +3.7%/yr MA
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 22.6% 28.5% 31.6% MA
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 51/100 60/100 82/100 COF

Percentile Scorecard

MAMCOCOF

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

AxisMAMCOCOF
Valuation 13 #822 of 945 18 #771 of 945 86 #52 of 361
Growth 68 #268 of 822 73 #219 of 822 95 #17 of 344
Profitability 99 #11 of 835 97 #26 of 835 70 #106 of 348
Financial Health 49 #461 of 905 53 #424 of 905 66 #116 of 340
Shareholder Returns 28 #521 of 726 58 #304 of 726 95 #17 of 352
Overall 51 60 82
  • MA ranked among 1,011 companies in Financial Services
  • MCO ranked among 1,011 companies in Financial Services
  • COF ranked among 370 companies in Banking

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodMAMCOCOFSPY
1 month +11.3%+2.0%+2.6% -1.0%
3 months +15.5%+2.5%-0.7% +2.9%
6 months +23.7%+6.0%+5.2% +6.4%
Year to date +9.2%-5.4%-16.9% +11.4%
1 year +8.7%+0.9%-8.5% +13.1%
3 years +61.1%+58.2%+125.7% +79.4%
3 years, per year +17.3%+16.5%+31.2% +21.5%
5 years +73.8%+26.7%+20.0% +67.7%
5 years, per year +11.7%+4.8%+3.7% +10.9%
10 years +506.2%+372.9%+168.8% +255.2%
10 years, per year +19.7%+16.8%+10.4% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureMAMCOCOFSPY
Volatility, 1Y 22.6%28.5%31.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 22.4%30.2%35.6% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.270.511.30 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.380.03-0.27 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -28.6%-42.2%-49.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -1.5%-10.4%-21.9% -2.5%
52-week high $632.81$539.61$257.94 $779.14
52-week low $471.55$412.23$176.10 $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.

MultipleMAMCOCOF
P/E now vs peer median 33.8xmedian 13.4x 29.0xmedian 13.4x 12.3xmedian 12.5x
P/S now vs peer median 15.5xmedian 3.2x 10.2xmedian 3.2x 2.0xmedian 3.5x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 23.1xmedian 5.9x 21.4xmedian 5.9x 4.6xmedian 4.8x
P/FCF now vs peer median 32.5xmedian 11.1x 28.0xmedian 11.1x 4.2xmedian 11.4x
P/B now vs peer median 96.7xmedian 1.2x 24.4xmedian 1.2x 1.1xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median 1.73median 0.89 1.09median 0.89 1.58median 1.48

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 monthsMAMCOCOF
Revenue $35.08B $8.18B $62.02B
Gross profit – $6.10B –
Operating income $20.47B $3.64B –
Net income $16.26B $2.89B $10.52B
Free cash flow $16.70B $2.98B $29.70B
EPS (diluted) $18.41 $16.64 $16.37
Cash & equivalents $11.29B $1.51B –
Total debt $81.59B $6.91B $44.68B
Shares (diluted) 883.00M 173.30M 621.10M
Enterprise value $501.79B $76.65B $125.54B

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
MetricMAMCOCOF
P/E 33.8x 29.0x 12.3x
P/FCF 32.5x 28.0x 4.2x
P/Operating cash flow 31.1x 25.0x 3.9x
P/S 15.5x 10.2x 2.0x
P/B 96.7x 24.4x 1.1x
P/Tangible book 3,744x 48.5x 1.3x
EV/EBITDA 23.1x 21.4x 4.6x
EV/EBIT 27.2x 24.3x 5.7x
EV/Revenue 15.9x 10.8x 2.7x
EV/FCF 33.3x 29.8x 5.7x
EV/Operating cash flow 31.9x 26.6x 5.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.73 1.09 1.58

Growth

14 metrics
MetricMAMCOCOF
Revenue growth (1Y) 16.0% 9.0% 45.3%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 14.1% 12.6% 20.1%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 10.3% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 14.6% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 21.3% 16.0% –
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 16.1% 23.3% –
Net income growth (1Y) 19.7% 28.5% –
Net income CAGR (3Y) 16.7% 24.0% 25.5%
EPS growth (1Y) 23.2% 33.1% 2,849%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 19.5% 26.5% 7.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 2.9% 22.5% 60.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 14.6% 17.5% 22.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 0.9% 24.1% 63.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 14.4% 18.8% 22.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricMAMCOCOF
Gross margin – 74.6% –
EBITDA margin 68.6% 50.6% 58.4%
Operating margin 58.3% 44.6% –
Pretax margin 57.5% 45.2% 21.0%
Net margin 46.3% 35.3% 16.4%
FCF margin 47.6% 36.4% 47.9%
Operating cash flow margin 49.7% 40.7% 50.7%
Return on equity 263.6% 87.8% 9.3%
Return on assets 29.5% 19.6% 1.6%
Return on invested capital 59.0% 27.9% 14.4%
Return on capital employed 68.1% 31.8% –
Asset turnover 0.6x 0.6x 0.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.1x 1.2x 3.0x
Stock comp / revenue 1.8% 2.8% 1.2%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricMAMCOCOF
Debt / assets 42.7% 46.6% 6.6%
Debt / equity 4.4x 2.0x 0.4x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.6x 1.3x 1.2x
Debt / FCF 1.5x 2.3x 1.5x
Liabilities / assets 90.3% 77.0% 83.1%
Equity / assets 9.7% 23.0% 16.9%
Interest coverage 27.4x – 1.8x
Current ratio 1.1x 1.3x –
Quick ratio 0.7x 1.3x –
Cash ratio 0.5x 0.5x –
Altman Z-score 10.29 7.67 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricMAMCOCOF
Dividend yield 0.6% 0.8% 1.6%
Net buyback yield 2.9% 3.5% 7.0%
Shareholder yield 3.4% 4.4% 8.6%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 24.6% 18.0%
Payout ratio (FCF) – 23.8% 6.4%
Dividend growth (1Y) – 3.0% 74.4%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 8.8% 26.8%

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.

ConsensusMAMCOCOF
Forward P/E 29.7xFY2026 26.8xFY2026 10.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $20.99FY2026 $18.07FY2026 $19.55FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +23.4%FY2026 +21.0%FY2026 -0.3%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +14.7% -1.2% +17.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $38.98BFY2026 $8.74BFY2026 $66.18BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +18.9%FY2026 +13.2%FY2026 +23.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +0.4% -1.8% +0.0%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersMAMCOCOF
Held by institutions 88.6% 90.8% 86.5%
Institutions holding 3,581 1,404 2,110
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.6% -1.6% +1.7%
Institutions buying 1,587 644 1,048
Institutions selling 1,526 522 758
Buyers to sellers 1.04 1.23 1.38

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.

MAMCOCOF
MA 1.00 0.45 0.45
MCO 0.45 1.00 0.38
COF 0.45 0.38 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, MA, MCO and COF?

Mastercard (MA) is the largest by market capitalisation: Mastercard (MA) $541.87B, Moodys (MCO) $83.73B, Capital One Financial (COF) $125.54B.

Which stock is cheaper, MA, MCO and COF?

Capital One Financial (COF) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Mastercard (MA) 33.3x, Moodys (MCO) 29.0x, Capital One Financial (COF) 12.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Capital One Financial (COF) is cheapest (Mastercard (MA) 29.7x, Moodys (MCO) 26.8x, Capital One Financial (COF) 10.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Capital One Financial (COF) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Mastercard (MA) +16.0%, Moodys (MCO) +9.0%, Capital One Financial (COF) +45.3%.

Which company is more profitable?

Mastercard (MA) has the highest net margin (Mastercard (MA) 46.3%, Moodys (MCO) 35.3%, Capital One Financial (COF) 16.4%). On return on invested capital, Mastercard (MA) leads (Mastercard (MA) 59.0%, Moodys (MCO) 27.9%, Capital One Financial (COF) 14.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Mastercard (MA) returned the most: Mastercard (MA) +8.7%, Moodys (MCO) +0.9%, Capital One Financial (COF) -8.5%. Over five years, Mastercard (MA) compounded fastest (Mastercard (MA) +11.7%/yr, Moodys (MCO) +4.8%/yr, Capital One Financial (COF) +3.7%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Capital One Financial (COF) has the highest dividend yield: Mastercard (MA) 0.00%, Moodys (MCO) 0.01%, Capital One Financial (COF) 0.02%. Mastercard (MA) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Mastercard (MA) has been the steadiest (Mastercard (MA) 22.6%, Moodys (MCO) 28.5%, Capital One Financial (COF) 31.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, MA, MCO and COF?

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 7. 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.