Instacart rallies after topping Q3 estimates on strong orders growth

[Instacart company closeup sign is seen in Toronto, Canada.]
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Instacart (CART [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CART]) rallied in early trading on Monday after the company edged past consensus estimates with its third-quarter earnings report.

During Q3, orders grew 14% year-over-year to 83.4 million vs. 82.9 million consensus, and gross transaction value increased 10%. The company saw 22% year-over-year improvement in both net income and adjusted EBITDA. GAAP EPS of $0.51 beat the consensus mark by a penny and was ahead of last year's EPS tally for Q3 of $0.42.

"As we expected, average order value decreased 4% year-over-year, driven by restaurant orders and lowered basket minimums to $10 for Instacart+ members to get waived delivery fees. Total revenue was $939 million, up 10% year-over-year, primarily driven by GTV growth," highlighted the company.

Looking ahead, Instacart (CART [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CART]) sees Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $285 million to $295 million (midpoint $290 million) vs. the consensus expectation of $289.4 million. Gross transaction value of $9.45 billion to $9.60 billion is anticipated for the holiday quarter.

Shares of Instacart (CART [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CART]) were up 6.8% in premarket trading on Monday to $39.25 vs. the 52-week range of $34.78 to $53.50. Short interest on CART is 4.7% of the total float.

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