Ahold (OTCMKTS:ADRNY) vs. Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) Financial Review

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) and Ahold (OTCMKTS:ADRNY) 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, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Maplebear has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ahold has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.1% of Maplebear shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.2% of Ahold shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.0% of Maplebear shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Maplebear and Ahold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Maplebear	11.97%	20.19%	14.13%
Ahold	2.45%	16.64%	4.82%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Maplebear and Ahold”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Maplebear	$3.74 billion	3.08	$447.00 million	$1.83	27.23
Ahold	$104.46 billion	0.31	$2.56 billion	€2.95	12.37

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Maplebear and Ahold, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maplebear	0	6	14	0	2.70
Ahold	0	3	0	1	2.50

Maplebear currently has a consensus target price of $58.24, suggesting a potential upside of 16.87%. Given Maplebear’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Maplebear is more favorable than Ahold.

Summary

Maplebear beats Ahold on 11 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 Ahold

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. operates retail food stores and e-commerce in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company's stores offer produce, dairy, meat, deli, bakery, seafood, and frozen products; grocery, beer, and wine; floral, pet food, health and beauty care, kitchen and cookware, gardening tools, general merchandise articles, electronics, newspapers and magazines, tobacco, etc.; gasoline; and pharmacy products. It operates its supermarkets, convenience stores, and online stores under the Food Lion, Stop & Shop, The GIANT Company, Hannaford, Giant Food, FreshDirect, Albert Heijn, bol.com, Etos, Gall & Gall, Delhaize, Albert, Alfa Beta Vassilopoulos, Mega Image, Delhaize Serbia, Peapod Digital labs, and Retail Business Service brands. The company was formerly known as Koninklijke Ahold N.V. and changed its name to Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. in July 2016. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Zaandam, the Netherlands.