Comparing Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) and i3 Verticals (NASDAQ:IIIV)

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) and i3 Verticals (NASDAQ:IIIV) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.1% of Maplebear shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.2% of i3 Verticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 36.0% of Maplebear shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 59.1% of i3 Verticals 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Maplebear and i3 Verticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maplebear	0	13	15	2	2.63
i3 Verticals	0	2	4	1	2.86

Maplebear currently has a consensus price target of $48.96, indicating a potential downside of 7.88%. i3 Verticals has a consensus price target of $29.86, indicating a potential upside of 4.14%. Given i3 Verticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe i3 Verticals is more favorable than Maplebear.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Maplebear and i3 Verticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Maplebear	$3.04 billion	4.49	-$1.62 billion	$1.49	35.67
i3 Verticals	$229.92 million	4.12	$113.34 million	$4.49	6.39

i3 Verticals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Maplebear. i3 Verticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Maplebear, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Maplebear and i3 Verticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Maplebear	13.37%	13.78%	10.51%
i3 Verticals	41.85%	3.36%	1.81%

Risk & Volatility

Maplebear has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, i3 Verticals has a beta of 1.51, meaning that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

i3 Verticals beats Maplebear on 8 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 i3 Verticals

i3 Verticals, Inc. provides integrated payment and software solutions primarily to the public sector and healthcare markets in the United States. It operates in two segments, Software and Services, and Merchant Services. The company offers payment processing services that enables upper and lower court case management, collections, finance and accounting, motor vehicle and carrier registration, e-filing and taxation, license plate inventory, property tax management, utility billing, professional licensing, document workflow, and law enforcement software; assists public schools in completing payment processing functions, including accepting payments for online or at school lunches, and school activities. It also provides software platforms, such as electronic healthcare records and revenue cycle management solutions; insurance adjudication, patient engagement platforms, billing, scheduling, and integrated payments solutions; and workflow software and associated professional services to medical insurance payers. In addition, the company engages in software licenses and subscriptions, transaction-based fees, ongoing software maintenance and support, and other software-related solutions; and payment processing and gateway fees, as well as other related fixed transaction or service fees. Further, it sells equipment, and offers non-software related professional services. The company offers its solutions to clients through direct sales force; distribution partners comprising independent software vendors, independent sales organizations, and value-added resellers. i3 Verticals, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.