CART vs DASH Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Instacart is a more narrowly focused grocery delivery and retail media company, while DoorDash operates a broader, multi-category on-demand delivery platform spanning restaurants, grocery, and retail with growing international exposure. The comparison typically weighs Instacart's advertising-driven margin story against DoorDash's larger scale and category diversification.
Use this CART vs DASH comparison to separate a grocery-and-advertising-focused specialist from a broader, multi-category delivery platform: Instacart offers a higher-margin advertising growth story layered on grocery delivery, while DoorDash offers larger scale and diversification across restaurant, grocery, and international delivery.
CART holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CART leads on both 1-year return (+29.28%) and forward P/E quality (10.47x vs 27.77x for DASH), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, DASH is growing revenue faster (35.60%), while CART maintains the higher operating margin (14.09%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +12.27% for CART and +11.56% for DASH.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to high-margin retail media advertising growth
- Believe grocery delivery penetration still has room to grow
- Prefer a more focused business model than a multi-category platform
- Value Instacart's deep retail partner integrations
- Want broader exposure across restaurant, grocery, and retail delivery categories
- Believe international expansion adds a long runway for growth
- Value DoorDash's larger scale and market leadership in U.S. restaurant delivery
- See DashPass membership and advertising as durable additional revenue streams
| Metric | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 36.0 | 37.4 |
| AI ranki | #1582 | #1370 |
| Latest closei | $51.13 | $193.05 |
| 1M returni | +9.23% | -2.63% |
| 3M returni | +10.60% | +3.59% |
| 6M returni | +22.50% | +7.65% |
| 1Y returni | +29.28% | -29.18% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $13.11K (+31.1%) started 2025-10-16 | $7.24K (-27.6%) started 2025-10-16 |
| 5Y ago | $15.17K (+51.7%) started 2023-09-19 | $8.96K (-10.4%) started 2021-10-18 |
| 10Y ago | $15.17K (+51.7%) started 2023-09-19 | $10.19K (+1.9%) started 2020-12-09 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $11.87B | $97.99B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 28.01 | 117.79 |
| Forward P/Ei | 10.47 | 27.77 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 2.75 | 6.03 |
| Analyst targeti | $57.56 | $252.30 |
| Target upsidei | +12.27% | +11.56% |
| Metric | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 14.10% | 35.60% |
| Earnings growthi | 8.10% | -30.00% |
| EPS growthi | +8.10% | -30.00% |
| FCF margini | +22.99% | +32.39% |
| Operating margini | 14.09% | 3.86% |
| Profit margini | 12.05% | 5.29% |
| ROIC proxyi | 16.00% | 8.89% |
| Return on equityi | 16.00% | 8.89% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 0.78 | 1.77 |
| Debt/equityi | 1.35 | 33.28 |
| Current ratioi | 2.28 | 1.37 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.97 | 1.08 |
Over the past year, CART and DASH have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.35), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +31.14% | -27.61% |
| CAGRi | +31.19% | -27.64% | |
| Volatilityi | 41.85% | 48.47% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.75 | -0.52 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.13 | -0.69 | |
| Max drawdowni | 28.78% | 45.03% | |
| Current drawdowni | 1.26% | 27.61% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 9.08% | 27.47% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 11.65% | 29.46% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.18% | 17.45% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 10.70% | 22.67% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +51.72% | -10.36% |
| CAGRi | +14.52% | -2.17% | |
| Volatilityi | 45.10% | 54.45% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.43 | 0.15 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.60 | 0.21 | |
| Max drawdowni | 38.04% | 82.49% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.80% | 31.48% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 16.39% | 46.56% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 18.76% | 52.01% | |
| Max daily dropi | 12.26% | 17.45% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 22.48% | 27.11% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +51.72% | +1.87% |
| CAGRi | +14.52% | +0.32% | |
| Volatilityi | 45.10% | 56.38% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.43 | 0.21 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.60 | 0.30 | |
| Max drawdowni | 38.04% | 82.49% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.80% | 31.48% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 16.39% | 42.71% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 18.76% | 48.90% | |
| Max daily dropi | 12.26% | 17.45% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 22.48% | 27.11% |
| Category | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Maplebear Inc. (Instacart) | DoorDash, Inc. |
| Sector | Consumer Cyclical | Consumer Cyclical |
| Industry | Internet Retail | Internet Retail |
| Core business | Instacart operates a grocery delivery and pickup marketplace connecting consumers with retail partners, increasingly monetized through its Carrot Ads retail media advertising network alongside delivery and membership fees. | DoorDash operates a broad on-demand delivery marketplace spanning restaurants, grocery, and retail, with expanding international operations and its own growing advertising business layered on top of delivery fees. |
| Investor focus | Investors watch Instacart's gross transaction value (GTV) and order growth, the faster-growing advertising revenue segment, and margin trends as it balances growth investment against profitability. | Investors watch DoorDash's total orders and marketplace GOV growth, expansion into grocery and international markets, and progress scaling advertising alongside core delivery profitability. |
- Fast-growing, high-margin advertising business (Carrot Ads) outpacing overall GTV growth
- Deep retail partner network across major grocery chains
- Established brand and market position in online grocery delivery
- Larger scale and broader category diversification than grocery-focused Instacart
- Leading position in U.S. restaurant delivery with expanding international presence
- Growing advertising and membership (DashPass) revenue streams supplementing delivery fees
- Grocery delivery is a lower-frequency, lower-margin category than restaurant delivery
- Advertising revenue growth needs to keep outpacing margin pressure from expanding self-serve ad tools
- Competition from DoorDash, Amazon, Walmart, and retailers' own delivery services
- Thin delivery margins require continued scale and efficiency gains to sustain profitability
- Intensifying competition across restaurant, grocery, and retail delivery categories
- Labor classification and regulatory risk around gig-worker status in key markets
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