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 (+16.49%) and forward P/E quality (10.32x vs 28.46x 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 meaningfully more upside for CART (+13.93%) than for DASH (+8.87%).
- 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 score | 31.0 | 38.1 |
| AI rank | #2164 | #1260 |
| Latest close | $50.52 | $231.74 |
| 1M return | +13.27% | +18.14% |
| 6M return | +34.68% | +31.32% |
| 1Y return | +16.49% | -5.51% |
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 | $11.52K (+15.2%) started 2025-09-02 | $9.49K (-5.1%) started 2025-09-02 |
| 5Y ago | $14.99K (+49.9%) started 2023-09-19 | $12.11K (+21.1%) started 2021-08-31 |
| 10Y ago | $14.99K (+49.9%) started 2023-09-19 | $12.23K (+22.3%) started 2020-12-09 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $11.7B | $100.41B |
| Trailing P/E | 27.61 | 120.70 |
| Forward P/E | 10.32 | 28.46 |
| Price/Sales | 2.93 | 6.32 |
| EV/Revenue | 2.78 | 6.33 |
| Analyst target | $57.56 | $252.30 |
| Target upside | +13.93% | +8.87% |
| Metric | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 14.10% | 35.60% |
| Earnings growth | 8.10% | -30.00% |
| EPS growth | +8.10% | -30.00% |
| FCF margin | +22.99% | +32.39% |
| Operating margin | 14.09% | 3.86% |
| Profit margin | 12.05% | 5.29% |
| ROIC proxy | 16.00% | 8.89% |
| Return on equity | 16.00% | 8.89% |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Beta | 0.78 | 1.77 |
| Debt/equity | 1.35 | 33.28 |
| Current ratio | 2.28 | 1.37 |
| Quick ratio | 1.97 | 1.08 |
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 | Growth | +15.18% | -5.06% |
| CAGR | +15.29% | -5.09% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.44 | 0.03 | |
| Max drawdown | 29.92% | 47.97% | |
| Max daily drop | 10.40% | 17.45% | |
| Max wkly drop | 13.38% | 22.67% | |
| 5Y | Growth | +49.91% | +21.08% |
| CAGR | +14.72% | +3.90% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.43 | 0.26 | |
| Max drawdown | 38.04% | 82.49% | |
| Max daily drop | 12.26% | 17.45% | |
| Max wkly drop | 22.48% | 27.11% | |
| 10Y | Growth | +49.91% | +22.28% |
| CAGR | +14.72% | +3.58% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.43 | 0.27 | |
| Max drawdown | 38.04% | 82.49% | |
| Max daily drop | 12.26% | 17.45% | |
| Max wkly drop | 22.48% | 27.11% |
| Category | CART | DASH |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Maplebear Inc. (Instacart) | DoorDash, Inc. |
| Sector | Online Grocery Delivery and Retail Media | On-Demand Delivery Platform |
| Industry | N/A | N/A |
| 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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