Instacart's cart keeps getting raided by competitors...and they're not done yet -- BTIG

BTIG downgraded Instacart (NASDAQ:CART) to Neutral from Buy and withdrew its $55 price target, citing competitive losses—partners representing roughly 25% of Instacart’s business have shifted to Amazon (AMZN), DoorDash (DASH), and Uber (UBER)—making a double-digit EBITDA multiple harder to defend.

“Instacart has been hit with a number of negative competitive developments since August 1,” BTIG analyst Jake Fuller notes, including Amazon’s (AMZN) partnership with Winn-Dixie, Uber’s (UBER) Aldi agreement, and Monday’s news from DoorDash (DASH) and Kroger (KR), “and its clear from the recent slate of deals that Amazon, DoorDash, and Uber are focused on the grocery category, and we haven’t seen the last of their efforts.”

Fuller’s previous Buy rating on Instacart (NASDAQ:CART) was based on the expectation that Amazon’s (AMZN) expansion, tougher second half comparisons, and NYC shopper pay were overstated. But layering on the recent deals mentioned above leads Fuller to believe the “balance is too much on the negative side of the ledger at this point.”

To justify at Buy rating would require a mid-$40s price and multiple on a now more uncertain 2026 EBITDA of ~10x.

Instacart (NASDAQ:CART) shares fell as much as 11% on Monday in the wake of the DoorDash(DASH)/Kroger (KR) announcement and have retreated by 30% since the beginning of August as the stock is battered by recent partnerships announced from its competitors. With BTIG’s downgrade adding to Instacart’s (CART) recent pressures, shares are expected to trade in the red for a fourth consecutive day, currently down nearly 3% into the open.