Mastercard
MA · Transaction & Payment Processing Services
$623.60
1.5%PayPal
PYPL · Transaction & Payment Processing Services
$57.02
0.9%The short version
- PayPal is the larger business, with $33.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $32.8B for Mastercard.
- Mastercard grew revenue faster (16.4%, against 4.3%).
- Mastercard kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (57.6% operating margin, against 18.3% operating margin).
- Mastercard turned more of its sales into free cash flow (52.3% FCF margin, against 16.8% FCF margin).
- Mastercard earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (93.8%, against 25.7%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Mastercard’s earnings: a P/E of 34.3x against 10.7x for PayPal.
| Latest fiscal year | MA · FY25 | PYPL · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $550.6B | $52.5B |
| Revenue | $32.8B | $33.2B |
| Free cash flow | $17.2B | $5.6B |
| Net income | $15.0B | $5.2B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 16.4% | 4.3% |
| 5-year growth | 16.5% | 9.1% |
| Share count change | −2.3% | −6.8% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 57.6% | 18.3% |
| Net margin | 45.7% | 15.8% |
| FCF margin | 52.3% | 16.8% |
| Return on capital | 93.8% | 25.7% |
| Return on equity | 210.5% | 25.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $8.4B | −$418M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.4x | −0.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $14.5B | $6.2B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 34.3x | 10.7x |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 | 7 |
FY16
MA $10.8B
PYPL $10.8B
FY17
MA $12.5B
PYPL $13.1B
FY18
MA $15.0B
PYPL $15.5B
FY19
MA $16.9B
PYPL $17.8B
FY20
MA $15.3B
PYPL $21.5B
FY21
MA $18.9B
PYPL $25.4B
FY22
MA $22.2B
PYPL $27.5B
FY23
MA $25.1B
PYPL $29.8B
FY24
MA $28.2B
PYPL $31.8B
FY25
MA $32.8B
PYPL $33.2B
MA
PYPL
FY16
MA 53.5%
PYPL 14.6%
FY17
MA 53.0%
PYPL 16.2%
FY18
MA 48.7%
PYPL 14.2%
FY19
MA 57.2%
PYPL 15.3%
FY20
MA 52.8%
PYPL 15.3%
FY21
MA 53.4%
PYPL 16.8%
FY22
MA 55.2%
PYPL 13.9%
FY23
MA 55.8%
PYPL 16.9%
FY24
MA 55.3%
PYPL 16.8%
FY25
MA 57.6%
PYPL 18.3%
MA
PYPL
FY16
MA $4.4B
PYPL $2.5B
FY17
MA $5.4B
PYPL $1.9B
FY18
MA $5.9B
PYPL $4.7B
FY19
MA $7.8B
PYPL $3.4B
FY20
MA $6.9B
PYPL $5.4B
FY21
MA $9.1B
PYPL $4.9B
FY22
MA $10.8B
PYPL $5.1B
FY23
MA $11.6B
PYPL $4.2B
FY24
MA $14.3B
PYPL $6.8B
FY25
MA $17.2B
PYPL $5.6B
MA
PYPL
FY16
MA 107.2%
PYPL —
FY17
MA 87.1%
PYPL —
FY18
MA 117.8%
PYPL —
FY19
MA 128.7%
PYPL 23.0%
FY20
MA 80.9%
PYPL 20.2%
FY21
MA 74.2%
PYPL 23.6%
FY22
MA 76.2%
PYPL 13.8%
FY23
MA 83.8%
PYPL 21.6%
FY24
MA 86.6%
PYPL 23.0%
FY25
MA 93.8%
PYPL 25.7%
MA
PYPL
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Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.