DoorDash’s stock price has been volatile lately, but Wall Street’s belief in the stock’s growth opportunity remains solid. The food delivery platform’s stock initially fell as much as 12% in after-hours trading on Feb. 18 after DoorDash’s fourth-quarter profit fell short of expectations. It also came as the company warned that its investments in Deliveroo and its international operations would weigh on future profits. This seemed like a major setback for the stock, which had already fallen 20% since the beginning of 2026. But the losses reversed after CEO Tony Hsu spoke to analysts on the company’s conference call. The executive painted a picture of momentum and sustainability, reassuring investors that the investment will pay off in the long run. Analysts seem to agree with Xu’s vision. They expect opportunities in the grocery and international sectors to support demand and drive sustained revenue growth. In the next session, the stock closed 2% higher. But the volatility wasn’t over. A paper published Sunday by Citrini Research once again rattled the stock, pointing to DoorDash as a prime example of the agent-based artificial intelligence threat that disrupts addictive app loyalty. The stock rebounded on Thursday, rising more than 4%, bringing the week’s gain to less than 3%. DASH YTD Mountain DASH YTD Charts According to LSEG, analysts expect further upside in the future, with the average price target pegging the stock’s upside potential at around 45%. Thirty-six analysts rate the stock as a “buy” or “buy,” and 11 rate it unchanged. Mr. Xu’s comments on the earnings call were prescient and seemed to touch on some of the issues that would be raised in Mr. Citrini’s paper in the coming days. The executive sees AI assistants as channel partners rather than an existential threat. “And you’ll see how much traffic they can drive in a very similar way to how companies like Facebook and Google have done the same thing with DoorDash in the past,” Xu said. Analysts noted that even if AI agents take on the discovery role, food and grocery orders still need to be delivered, creating an opportunity for DoorDash. “Fundamentally, we view DoorDash as a ‘core holding’ for Internet investors,” Citizens analyst Andrew Boone said in an interview. He believes the stock market has outperformed, with the price at $250 representing a 52% increase compared to DoorDash’s closing price on Tuesday. Boone saw his input as contributing to Deliveroo’s future runway and other ways the company can grow revenue, such as advertising. “Deliveroo is still in its early stages. There seems to be a lot of opportunity to improve the product,” Boone said. Evercore analyst Mark Mahaney said DoorDash has seen a 20% increase in orders in recent periods, and that growth has been “very” stable. Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein said gross order value, a key metric that analysts focus on, is also very bullish. “They expect the strong GOV that they saw in the first quarter to continue throughout the year, and then they have discussed second-half margins being stronger than the first half,” he told CNBC. “This is a company that can probably grow its revenue by 20% in the near term, which is pretty rare in this market at that size, and I think that’s why investors are so interested.” Both Helfstein and Mahaney rate DoorDash’s performance as strong. Helfstein’s price target of $235 implies an upside of 43%. Mahaney’s $300 price target represents an 82% upside. Mahaney said that while some investors last week saw an investment in Deliveroo, which will be acquired by British food delivery company DoorDash in 2025, as a clear “big negative”, it opens up huge opportunities for international growth, particularly in Europe. As part of the acquisition process, the company is also working to build a consistent technology platform, he said. Mahaney also sees long-term opportunities from Deliveroo’s investments in new products such as self-driving delivery vehicles. He added: “I think the market is generally okay with those investments because these are the areas that they are investing in and these investments are seen as coming from a position of strength.” “That’s why I want to be constructive on this.” Helfstein also sees new opportunities to attract new customers to the U.S., as about 70% of U.S. consumers don’t order food outside of restaurants. He also expects DoorDash could expand beyond delivering goods from convenience stores and grocery stores to other types of retailers. He said he once ordered a space heater from the platform. Boone said there is a $1 trillion market opportunity in the grocery business. Analysts said DoorDash is not the only company in the space, with notable rivals including Amazon and Walmart, but there is room for multiple companies to succeed. During DoorDash’s earnings call, Xu pushed back on the growing concerns surrounding Amazon’s grocery delivery business, arguing that this will not impact the company’s growth and that DoorDash’s ability to offer consumers the choice between multiple independent grocers and retailers gives the company an advantage. Helfstein also praised DoorDash’s $1.2 billion acquisition of booking platform Seven Rooms last June. This foray into restaurant reservations could allow the platform to better understand what customers are eating and ultimately provide more personalized recommendations, he said. “They now offer an almost complete front-of-house platform for restaurants. So how big can that business get? There should be a lot of cross-selling and synergy in terms of having someone adopt the DoorDash marketing suite in addition to their core market,” the analyst said. — CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.
