Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.22 EPS

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.22), FiscalAI reports. Maplebear had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 14.09%.The firm had revenue of $992.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $969.95 million.

Here are the key takeaways from Maplebear’s conference call:

• Q4 momentum: Instacart delivered its strongest GTV growth in three years with $9.85B GTV (+14% YoY) and 89.5M orders (+16%), and repurchased $1.1B of shares in Q4 (total $1.4B repurchased in 2025).
• Marketplace + Enterprise play: The company now reaches 2,200+ retail banners (~100,000 locations) and powers >380 grocery e‑commerce sites, using a land‑and‑expand Storefront Pro strategy (examples: Costco, Sprouts) to deepen retailer integrations and drive durable growth.
• AI and product acceleration: Heavy AI investments lifted average engineer output ~40% and enabled ~4x faster production builds, accelerating rollouts like Cart Assistant, Smart Shop, Caper Cart, and international launches.
• Advertising expansion: Ads and other revenue grew 10% YoY, Carrot Ads expanded to 310+ retailer sites, 9,000+ brands advertised on Instacart, and off‑platform/data solutions plus in‑store Caper ads are new monetization vectors.
• Near‑term financial headwinds: GAAP net income fell 46% to $81M primarily due to non‑recurring legal/regulatory charges (including a $60M FTC settlement), and cost of revenue rose partly from higher payments to publishers tied to ad initiatives (expected to moderate in 2026).

Maplebear Price Performance

Shares of CART stock traded up $0.31 on Thursday, hitting $33.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,568,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,508,494. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.00. Maplebear has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $53.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CART. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Maplebear from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Maplebear from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Maplebear from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Maplebear from $66.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Maplebear from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Maplebear has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Maplebear news, General Counsel Morgan Fong sold 4,914 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total value of $222,161.94. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 404,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,307,337.40. The trade was a 1.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 26.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maplebear

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CART. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Maplebear by 114.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,792,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,594,000 after buying an additional 2,026,567 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Maplebear by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,287,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,892,000 after acquiring an additional 101,278 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in Maplebear by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Maplebear by 122.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 62,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,792,000 after acquiring an additional 34,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Maplebear by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 50,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,273,000 after acquiring an additional 16,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.09% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Maplebear

Here are the key news stories impacting Maplebear this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue and guidance beat — Instacart topped Wall Street’s Q4 revenue estimates, reported its strongest GTV in three years and issued strong forward guidance, which traders viewed as a catalyst for the rally. Instacart stock pops 14% on revenue beat, rosy guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Outlook and core profit forecast lifted — Management forecasted current-quarter GTV and core profit above expectations, citing strong essentials demand and an expanding advertising business. That outlook supports near-term revenue growth and margin improvement. Instacart forecasts strong quarter driven by essentials demand, advertisement business
• Neutral Sentiment: Official Q4 release / investor letter posted — Instacart published its full Q4 and FY2025 financial results and shareholder letter; investors can find line-item detail and management commentary there for modeling. Instacart Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: New retail partnership expands assortment — A same-day partnership with Lush increases product breadth and could boost order frequency around seasonal demand, but the immediate financial impact is modest. Instacart Partners with Lush to Bring Fresh, Handmade Cosmetics to Customers in as Fast as One Hour
• Neutral Sentiment: Marketing / visibility note — Coverage highlighting Maplebear’s tech for seamless shopping may help brand perception but is unlikely to move fundamentals immediately. Maplebear Enhances Nasdaq Composite with Seamless Shopping Tech
• Negative Sentiment: EPS missed estimates — Reported EPS of $0.30 missed the $0.52 consensus, which is pressuring valuation despite the revenue beat. (Earnings release showed $992M revenue vs. $970M consensus.)
• Negative Sentiment: One-time FTC settlement hit profits — Net income fell to $81M from $148M a year earlier after a $60M settlement; that reduced reported EPS and is cited as the main driver of the year-over-year profit decline. Instacart Profit Falls Following $60 Million Settlement With FTC
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades / lower expectations — At least one shop has trimmed its outlook for CART, which could cap upside until the company demonstrates sustained margin expansion. Benchmark Has Lowered Expectations for Maplebear Stock Price

About Maplebear

Maplebear, Inc, doing business as Instacart, operates a leading online grocery and essentials marketplace that connects consumers, retail partners and personal shoppers through its digital platform. The company enables customers to order groceries, household items and specialty products for same-day or scheduled delivery, as well as in-store pickup. By integrating its technology with retailers’ existing inventory and point-of-sale systems, Maplebear streamlines the shopping experience and provides real-time availability and pricing.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, Maplebear has grown from a regional startup to a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ under the ticker CART.