Analyzing Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) & Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Maplebear and Lyft’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Maplebear	13.37%	13.78%	10.51%
Lyft	0.39%	8.03%	0.98%

Risk & Volatility

Maplebear has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lyft has a beta of 2.15, suggesting that its share price is 115% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Maplebear and Lyft, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maplebear	0	13	15	1	2.59
Lyft	0	26	10	1	2.32

Maplebear currently has a consensus price target of $50.52, indicating a potential upside of 29.59%. Lyft has a consensus price target of $17.03, indicating a potential upside of 44.28%. Given Lyft’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lyft is more favorable than Maplebear.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Maplebear and Lyft”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Maplebear	$3.38 billion	3.05	-$1.62 billion	$1.58	24.67
Lyft	$5.79 billion	0.85	$22.78 million	$0.06	196.75

Lyft has higher revenue and earnings than Maplebear. Maplebear is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lyft, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

63.1% of Maplebear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.1% of Lyft shares are held by institutional investors. 36.0% of Maplebear shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Lyft shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Maplebear beats Lyft on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Maplebear

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. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in San Francisco, California.

About Lyft

Lyft, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in the United States and Canada. It operates multimodal transportation networks that offer access to various transportation options through the Lyft platform and mobile-based applications. The company's platform provides a ridesharing marketplace, which connects drivers with riders; Express Drive, a car rental program for drivers; and a network of shared bikes and scooters in various cities to address the needs of riders for short trips. It also offers centralized tools and enterprise transportation solutions, such as concierge transportation solutions for organizations; Lyft Pink subscription plans; Lyft Pass commuter programs; first-mile and last-mile services; and university safe rides programs. The company was formerly known as Zimride, Inc. and changed its name to Lyft, Inc. in April 2013. Lyft, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.