Analyzing Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) & Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF)

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) and Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Maplebear has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Maplebear and Chefs’ Warehouse, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maplebear	0	6	14	0	2.70
Chefs’ Warehouse	0	2	5	0	2.71

Maplebear presently has a consensus price target of $58.24, indicating a potential upside of 16.87%. Chefs’ Warehouse has a consensus price target of $118.33, indicating a potential upside of 4.19%. Given Maplebear’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Maplebear is more favorable than Chefs’ Warehouse.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Maplebear and Chefs’ Warehouse”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Maplebear	$3.99 billion	2.89	$447.00 million	$1.83	27.23
Chefs’ Warehouse	$4.39 billion	1.06	$72.36 million	$2.10	54.08

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.1% of Maplebear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. 24.0% of Maplebear shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Maplebear and Chefs’ Warehouse’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%
Chefs’ Warehouse	2.09%	16.95%	5.19%

Summary

Maplebear beats Chefs’ Warehouse on 8 of the 14 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 Chefs’ Warehouse

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes specialty food and center-of-the-plate products in the United States, the Middle East, and Canada. The company’s product portfolio includes specialty food products, such as artisan charcuterie, specialty cheeses, unique oils and vinegars, truffles, caviar, chocolate, and pastry products; and center-of-the-plate products consisting of custom cut beef, seafood, and hormone-free poultry, as well as broadline food products comprising cooking oils, butter, eggs, milk, and flour. The company serves menu-driven independent restaurants, fine dining establishments, country clubs, hotels, caterers, culinary schools, bakeries, patisseries, chocolatiers, cruise lines, casinos, and specialty food stores. It markets its center-of-the-plate products directly to consumers through a mail and e-commerce platform. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Ridgefield, Connecticut.