Shares of Instacart, the online grocery delivery and pickup service provider, plummeted by nearly 10% in Tuesday's after-hours trading session. The stock's steep decline came despite the company reporting better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024.

Instacart, the parent company of which is Maplebear Inc. (CART), reported quarterly earnings per share of $0.53, surpassing analysts' consensus estimate of $0.38. However, the company's revenue for the quarter fell short of expectations, coming in at $883 million versus the projected $891 million.

While the earnings beat was a positive, investors appeared to focus more on Instacart's mixed guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2025. The company projected gross transaction value, a key demand metric, to be between $9 billion and $9.15 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $8.99 billion. However, Instacart's forecast for adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), a measure of profitability, fell below analysts' estimates at $220 million to $230 million, compared to the projected $237.3 million.