Contrasting US Foods (NYSE:USFD) and Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART)

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) and US Foods (NYSE:USFD) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Maplebear	$3.99 billion	3.53	$447.00 million	$1.83	33.27
US Foods	$40.13 billion	0.55	$676.00 million	$3.25	31.22

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

Volatility & Risk

Maplebear has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, US Foods has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.1% of Maplebear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of US Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 24.0% of Maplebear shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of US Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Maplebear and US Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maplebear	0	6	14	0	2.70
US Foods	0	4	10	1	2.80

Maplebear currently has a consensus price target of $58.53, suggesting a potential downside of 3.86%. US Foods has a consensus price target of $114.85, suggesting a potential upside of 13.19%. Given US Foods’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe US Foods is more favorable than Maplebear.

Profitability

This table compares Maplebear and US Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Maplebear	11.97%	20.19%	14.13%
US Foods	1.81%	20.53%	6.32%

Summary

US Foods beats Maplebear on 8 of the 15 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 US Foods

US Foods Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in marketing, sale, and distribution of fresh, frozen, and dry food and non-food products to foodservice customers in the United States. The company's customers include independently owned single and multi-unit restaurants, regional concepts, national restaurant chains, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels and motels, country clubs, government and military organizations, colleges and universities, and retail locations. The company was formerly known as USF Holding Corp. and changed its name to US Foods Holding Corp. in February 2016. US Foods Holding Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.