Comparing US Foods (NYSE:USFD) & Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART)

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

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Maplebear	$3.74 billion	3.20	$447.00 million	$1.83	28.24
US Foods	$39.42 billion	0.57	$676.00 million	$3.25	32.04

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

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%

Volatility & Risk

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Maplebear and US Foods, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maplebear	0	6	14	0	2.70
US Foods	0	4	11	0	2.73

Maplebear presently has a consensus price target of $58.24, suggesting a potential upside of 12.68%. US Foods has a consensus price target of $114.85, suggesting a potential upside of 10.28%. Given Maplebear’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Maplebear is more favorable than US Foods.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

63.1% of Maplebear shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of US Foods shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.0% of Maplebear shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of US Foods shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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.