The DoorDash story

What drives the business

• DoorDash's expansion beyond US restaurant delivery includes Wolt and the Deliveroo acquisition completed in October 2025, with its marketplaces operating in over 40 countries and generating the vast majority of revenue.
• The marketplaces earn transaction fees from merchants and consumers, alongside advertising revenue, while the Commerce Platform offers delivery fulfillment through Drive and tools for merchants' own ordering and customer relationships.
• The marketplaces served over 56 million monthly active users in December 2025 and had over 35 million DashPass, Wolt+ and Deliveroo Plus members as of December 31, 2025, including paid, trial, and partnership accounts.
• DashPass reduces consumer fees to encourage more frequent orders and retention, accepting a lower gross margin percentage per order in pursuit of greater consumer lifetime value.
• Merchant services extend DoorDash beyond delivery, with its digital ordering service used by over 150,000 merchants and its revenue growing over 40% from a year earlier in the quarter to June 2026.

What the price assumes

At $178.39, the reverse DCF implies free cash flow after stock pay grows 20.2% a year for ten years, using a 10.2% discount rate.

DoorDash delivered 55.9% annual growth in that measure over the last 2 fiscal years, a much shorter period than the price assumption requires.

The implied growth rate is below the TenQ check's 30.0% bar, which slows the historical record halfway toward 4%, although the earnings yield of 1.1% trails the 5.2% Treasury yield.

Value DASH on your own assumptions

What could change the story

• Deliveroo integration adds execution and operational risks, while broader international exposure makes results more sensitive to currencies, geopolitics, and local consumer spending.
• Over the last twelve months, DoorDash's operating margin was 4.5% against the TenQ sector benchmark of 11.0%, leaving less room to absorb spending increases or competitive pressure.
• Competition from Uber Eats, Amazon, and other delivery services requires DoorDash to retain consumers, merchants, and Dashers, while worker classification rules could raise costs.
• Stock-based pay was $1.1 billion against $2.6 billion of free cash flow over the last twelve months, and shares increased 18.4% over the last three years despite repurchases.
• Cash and short-term investments of $5.3 billion exceed total debt of $2.7 billion, but the near-term liquidity check fails at 1.37 against 1.50, and liabilities reached 49.2% of assets versus 31.5% five years ago.

What to watch next

• For the quarter to September 2026, DoorDash expects Marketplace GOV, the value of marketplace orders, between $33.0 billion and $34.0 billion and Adjusted EBITDA between $950 million and $1,100 million.
• DoorDash expects Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Marketplace GOV to increase in the quarter to September 2026 and decline in the quarter to December 2026 as Dasher costs, insurance expenses, and technology and autonomy investment rise.
• Order growth excluding Deliveroo, DashPass engagement, and international unit economics will show whether expansion is strengthening the underlying business as DoorDash works toward completing its global technology platform rollout in the first half of 2027.
• Reported 2026 free cash flow needs to be read alongside the expected $700 million to $800 million reduction from merchant payment timing and expected stock-based compensation of approximately $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion.

Sources

• DoorDash's earnings release, filed with the SEC
• Its latest 10-Q or 10-K, for the risk factors
• The DASH stock report, for every figure and check