Forensic Analysis · Professional & Commercial Services · as of Nov 9, 2026
Maplebear Inc. (CART)
A forensic read on Maplebear Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.9
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
15.9%
ROE
10.8%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Maplebear Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.9, placing it in the Grey zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.
What the filings flag
+46.3%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +114% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+46.3%/yr). The count is growing — 130.6M shares in FY2023, 279.6M in FY2025: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~46.3% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2023 has been diluted ~53%.
152% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $1.4B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 152% of free cash flow. That is $476M (52%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash, short-term investments and long-term marketable securities fell $601M over FY2025. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $352M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 191%.
9% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 9% of revenue and 39% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $1.26 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 46.3% a year across FY2023–FY2025, and the rate is falling. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.74B
Revenue Growth YoY+10.8%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+10.9%
Net Margin11.9%
Free Cash Flow$910.0M
Return on Equity15.9%
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Maplebear Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?