Grocery delivery firm Instacart (CART), also known as Maplebear, is facing growing challenges as Amazon (AMZN) aggressively expands its own grocery services. With Prime becoming more attractive to budget-conscious grocery shoppers, Amazon’s same-day delivery for perishable items is directly threatening Instacart’s niche. While Instacart has shown solid gross transaction value (GTV) growth and improving margins, it’s steadily losing market share to other platforms like DoorDash (DASH) and Uber (UBER). Because of these risks, five-star Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt downgraded Instacart from Hold to Sell and reduced his price target by 24%, bringing it down to $42.
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He pointed out that Amazon’s entry into same-day grocery delivery not only encroaches on Instacart’s market but also adds more value for existing Prime members, which makes it harder for Instacart to stand out. Devitt also warned that Instacart’s narrow focus and limited offerings make it vulnerable to competitors with larger product ecosystems. Indeed, since around 60% of Instacart’s GTV comes from members, any shift toward more appealing subscription services from rivals could hurt its growth and user retention.
Looking ahead, Devitt believes that investors will begin questioning Instacart’s future growth potential. He argued that current Wall Street expectations for GTV growth may not factor in the increasing pressure from competitors. As a result, he now expects GTV to grow at a slower pace (mid- to low-single digits) compared to the higher growth rates previously forecast. Devitt also adjusted his estimates downward by reducing Q4 GTV and adjusted EBITDA by 1% and 2%, respectively. In addition, for full-year 2026, he cut his GTV growth projection to 7.1% (200 basis points lower than before) and trimmed his EBITDA forecast by 3% to $1.2 billion.
Is CART Stock a Good Buy
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on CART stock based on 14 Buys, six Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average CART price target of $59.32 per share implies 33.8% upside potential.
