Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) vs. JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) Critical Contrast

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) and JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Maplebear and JD.com, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maplebear	2	9	13	1	2.52
JD.com	1	3	9	0	2.62

Maplebear currently has a consensus target price of $51.09, indicating a potential upside of 27.92%. JD.com has a consensus target price of $38.50, indicating a potential upside of 32.12%. Given JD.com’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe JD.com is more favorable than Maplebear.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Maplebear	12.50%	18.67%	13.45%
JD.com	1.04%	5.90%	2.48%

Volatility and Risk

Maplebear has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JD.com has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.1% of Maplebear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.0% of JD.com shares are held by institutional investors. 24.0% of Maplebear shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 16.6% of JD.com shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Maplebear and JD.com”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	2.51	$447.00 million	$1.79	22.31
JD.com	$187.20 billion	0.22	$2.81 billion	$1.28	22.77

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

Summary

Maplebear beats JD.com on 10 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 JD.com

JD.com, Inc. operates as a supply chain-based technology and service provider in the People's Republic of China. The company offers computers, communication, and consumer electronics products, as well as home appliances; and general merchandise products comprising food, beverage and fresh produce, baby and maternity products, furniture and household goods, cosmetics and other personal care items, pharmaceutical and healthcare products, industrial products, books, automobile accessories, apparel and footwear, bags, and jewelry. It also provides online marketplace services for third-party merchants; marketing services; and omni-channel solutions to customers and offline retailers, as well as online healthcare services. In addition, the company develops, owns, and manages its logistics facilities and other real estate properties to support third parties; offers asset management services and integrated service platform; leasing of storage facilities and related management services; and engages in online retail business. Further, it provides integrated data, technology, business, and user management industry solutions to support the digitization of enterprises and institutions; and technology-driven supply chain solutions and logistics services. The company was formerly known as 360buy Jingdong Inc. and changed its name to JD.com, Inc. in January 2014. JD.com, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.