Instacart forecasts upbeat quarterly core profit on online grocery delivery demand

May 1 (Reuters) - Instacart CART.O forecast second-quarter core profit above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, betting on resilient demand for grocery and food on its delivery platform as more people shop online.

Shares of the company, which also beat first-quarter core profit estimates, were up about 12% in extended trading.

The company, also known as Maplebear, has been attracting customers amid a highly competitive environment with its wide retailer and shopper partner network and options for customers to save on delivery fees through its Instacart+ membership.

Instacart had also slashed its minimum order value for members to avail free delivery to $10 from $35 for all retailers except Costco earlier in March. It also offers delivery for non-members with a delivery fee starting at $3.99.

The company has been bolstering advertising on its platform, incorporating AI-powered features, including its new Universal Campaigns that help brands create one campaign with a single budget that optimizes across multiple ad formats.

Instacart expects core profit for its second quarter to be between $240 million and $250 million, above analysts' estimate of $237.2 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company expects gross transaction value, a key metric that shows the value of products sold based on prices shown on Instacart, to grow between $8.85 billion and $9.00 billion in the second quarter, the midpoint of which is slightly below analysts' expectations of $8.94 billion.

For the first quarter ended March 31, Instacart posted a core profit of $244 million, beating estimates of $229.4 million.

Its advertisement revenues rose 14% in the reported quarter after increasing 9% in the year-ago quarter.

Gross transaction value for the reported quarter was $9.12 billion, almost in line with estimates of $9.11 billion, while revenue rose 9% to $897 million, compared with analysts' expectations of $898 million.