Wedbush Issues Optimistic Forecast for Maplebear Earnings

Maplebear Inc. (NASDAQ:CART) – Analysts at Wedbush raised their Q4 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Maplebear in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, November 13th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $0.37 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.33. Wedbush currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Maplebear’s current full-year earnings is $1.17 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Maplebear’s Q1 2025 earnings at $0.38 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.36 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.37 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $0.42 EPS.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on CART. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Maplebear from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Maplebear from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Maplebear from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Maplebear from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Maplebear from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.29.

Maplebear Stock Performance

Maplebear stock opened at $42.93 on Thursday. Maplebear has a 52 week low of $22.13 and a 52 week high of $50.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.51.

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.20. Maplebear had a net margin of 13.37% and a return on equity of 13.32%. The company had revenue of $852.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $844.03 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($20.86) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Alan Ramsay sold 2,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.39, for a total value of $102,895.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 99,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,106,922.75. The trade was a 2.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Morgan Fong sold 29,253 shares of Maplebear stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total value of $1,405,021.59. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 258,406 shares in the company, valued at $12,411,240.18. The trade was a 10.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 118,710 shares of company stock worth $4,978,164. 36.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CART. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Maplebear in the first quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in Maplebear in the 1st quarter valued at $1,663,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Maplebear in the first quarter worth $6,462,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Maplebear during the first quarter worth $28,674,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Maplebear by 239.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 213,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,961,000 after buying an additional 150,544 shares in the last quarter. 63.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Maplebear Company Profile

Maplebear Inc, doing business as Instacart, engages in the provision of online grocery shopping services to households in North America. It sells and delivers grocery products, as well as pickup services through a mobile application and website. It also operates virtual convenience stores; and provides software-as-a-service solutions to retailers.