** Shares of grocery delivery firm Instacart CART.O, formally known as Maplebear, up as much as 5.2% at a nearly two-month high of $46.82 in early trade
** BTIG upgrades stock to "buy" from "neutral" and initiates a PT of $58, cites data that points to strong order growth helping Q4 and 2025, and a "not particularly challenging" valuation of stock
** Mizuho initiates coverage on stock with "outperform" and PT of $55, sees CART defending its leading market share, expects advertising income to fund further growth investments that drives market penetration
** Brokerage Bernstein raises PT by $3 to $55, sees hope from expanding grocery e-commerce sector and sees less threat from peers Uber UBER.N, DoorDash DASH.O owing to long merchant sales cycles being in favor of CART
** 18 of 34 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 16 "hold"; with a median PT of $52- data compiled by LSEG
** CART rose ~76% in 2024
(Reporting by Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru)
((Neil.JKanatt@thomsonreuters.com;))
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