Shopify’s shares are experiencing a significant upturn, thanks to the positive outlook of MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Morton. In his analysis, Morton highlighted the e-commerce software provider’s capacity to cater to larger retailers, broadening its scope beyond its traditional focus on smaller sellers.
Morton made an impressive upswing in his rating of Shopify’s stock, upgrading it from Market Perform to Outperform. Alongside this positive shift, he also revised the price target from $35 to $76.
This year alone, Shopify shares have surged by over 90%, with a recent 1.4% increase on Monday, raising the price to $66.49. Investors have warmly received Shopify’s decision to abandon plans to develop a fulfillment arm, contributing to this upward trend. Currently, the stock trades at around 11 times the projected per-share revenue for 2024 and 117 times the estimated earnings for next year.
Morton wasted no time in addressing concerns about valuation within his report. In the opening lines, he acknowledged Shopify’s elevated multiple, stating that the upgrade implies expectations for a turning point in the business that is currently not reflected in consensus projections. His intention is to highlight Shopify’s potential for greater success with enterprise customers in the future. Encouragingly, early indications suggest that the transition to serving enterprise clients is already underway.
Shopify’s Expansion into Enterprise Business
Shopify, the dominant player in the e-commerce software market for small and medium-sized businesses, is now eyeing the enterprise sector. According to industry analyst Morton, the company is in the early stages of a significant uptick in its enterprise business. This growth can be attributed to the embrace of Shopify by systems integrators, who particularly favor Shopify Plus, the platform tailored for larger sellers.
Morton’s projections for 2024 exceed the Street consensus across various metrics, including gross merchandise value, revenue, and free cash flow. He anticipates this optimistic outlook to be driven by the expected expansion of Shopify’s enterprise business.
Shopify initially established itself as a partner for small-scale sellers. It currently commands approximately 10% of the U.S. e-commerce market from this segment. However, this figure excludes major players like Amazon.com, Target, Walmart, and Home Depot who are unlikely to adopt Shopify’s platform.
In a bid to keep up with the constant innovation in e-commerce, Morton believes other prominent brands will consider migrating to Shopify. The rising internal costs associated with maintaining their own proprietary systems would make the switch to Shopify’s offering more appealing. With its vast army of engineers and app store developers continuously enhancing their products, Shopify presents an attractive solution.
While the financial results have yet to reflect the anticipated acceleration in Shopify’s enterprise business, Morton remains confident that this expansion will materialize in due course.
Shopify’s Enterprise Growth: A Promising Outlook
In analyzing Shopify’s enterprise growth, we have embarked on a quest to identify potential turning points even before they are reflected in the reported numbers. We understand the importance of relying on evidence that may be directionally significant, although individual data points alone might not suffice to establish a clear enterprise inflection. It is crucial to acknowledge the imperfections inherent in each indicator and engage in healthy debate around them. However, when considered collectively, these data points possess an overwhelmingly compelling nature.
