Capital One Financial Corp (COF) is slightly overvalued and PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL) is undervalued.
Against our estimates of intrinsic value, PYPL trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +51%, against -15% for COF.
Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.
Book value at 0.84x, the multiple a 8.9% return on equity justifies, blended with earnings, values the shares at $174.43; the price of $200.55 is 15% above that value.
Leak Score 55/100 on 10 of 12 signals
Discounting its cash flows at 10.0% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $108.56; the price of $52.89 is 51% below that value, and 73% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 79/100 on 10 of 12 signals
| Metric | COF | PYPL |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Slightly overvalued | Undervalued |
| Price | $200.55 | $52.89 |
| Intrinsic value | $174.43 | $108.56 |
| Margin of safety | -15% | +51% |
| Leak Score | 55/100 (10/12) | 79/100 (10/12) |
| Market cap | $123.0B | $45.2B |
| Revenue growth, 5 years | 16.9% | 9.2% |
| Operating margin | 16.6% | 18.9% |
| Net margin | 12.9% | 14.3% |
| Return on equity | 8.9% | 24.5% |
| Debt to equity | 0.40 | 0.72 |
| P/E | 12.4x | 10.0x |
| Forward P/E | 8.4x | 9.1x |
| P/B | 1.1x | 2.3x |
| Dividend yield | 1.6% | 0.6% |