Comparing Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) and BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ)

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) and Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

BJ’s Wholesale Club has a beta of 0.17, suggesting that its stock price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Maplebear has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BJ’s Wholesale Club and Maplebear’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BJ’s Wholesale Club	2.64%	27.40%	7.69%
Maplebear	11.97%	20.19%	14.13%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BJ’s Wholesale Club and Maplebear”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BJ’s Wholesale Club	$22.81 billion	0.53	$578.38 million	$4.57	20.82
Maplebear	$3.99 billion	2.57	$447.00 million	$1.83	24.18

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.6% of BJ’s Wholesale Club shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.1% of Maplebear shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of BJ’s Wholesale Club shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.0% of Maplebear shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for BJ’s Wholesale Club and Maplebear, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BJ’s Wholesale Club	1	9	10	0	2.45
Maplebear	0	6	14	0	2.70

BJ’s Wholesale Club currently has a consensus target price of $106.06, suggesting a potential upside of 11.49%. Maplebear has a consensus target price of $58.12, suggesting a potential upside of 31.34%. Given Maplebear’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Maplebear is more favorable than BJ’s Wholesale Club.

Summary

Maplebear beats BJ’s Wholesale Club on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BJ’s Wholesale Club

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. engages in the operation of membership warehouse clubs. Its product categories include grocery, household and pet, television and electronics, furniture, computer and tablets, patio and outdoor living, lawn and garden, baby and kids, toys, home, health and beauty, appliances, and jewelry. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Marlborough, MA.

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.