MA vs PYPL

Mastercard and PayPal, both Financial Services

Mastercard is the larger company at $433B against $37B. On trailing earnings PYPL is the cheaper of the two at a P/E of 11.6 against 32.9, a gap that is only a bargain if the two are growing at similar rates. Over the past year MA returned +5.6% against -10% for PYPL. Ryufin's sector-relative Smart Score puts MA ahead, 8/10 against 7/10.

Mastercard and PayPalcompared on valuation, return and Ryufin’s Smart Score
FigureMAPYPL
Last close$599$61.75
Market cap$433B$37B
Trailing P/Elower is cheaper for the same earnings, not automatically better32.911.6
Dividend yield0.5%0.2%
1-year return+5.6%-10%
5-year return+59%-77%
Ryufin Smart Scoresector-relative, 1–108/107/10

Figures from SEC filings and end-of-day closes. Highlighting marks the higher or lower number, which is not the same as the better investment, a low P/E can be a warning and a high one can be deserved.

Mastercard

Revenue of $9.3B in Q2 2026, net income $4.4B. Its largest reported line is Payment Network, 59% of the disclosed total.

PayPal

Revenue of $8.4B in Q1 2026, net income $1.1B. Its largest reported line is US, 58% of the disclosed total.

Open these two in the interactive comparison to add more names, change the period or read the correlation.