Fun fact: If you had shorted Shopify shares every time you left your house to shop this year, your stock-market profits might have paid for all your offline shopping. It seems consumers have literally shopped until Shopify dropped.
The e-commerce tech enabler said Wednesday morning that it overestimated the pandemic’s ability to permanently expand that market and that it now must recalibrate its business to meet a current reality that isn’t much different from before Covid hit. The company reported slower than anticipated revenue growth for the second quarter, swinging to an operating loss. Its guidance implies third and fourth quarter revenue growth could come in well below Wall Street’s expectations, leading to continued adjusted operating losses for the second half of the year. Despite the disappointing results, Shopify’s shares, down roughly 80% over the past year, actually rose 3% in early morning trading following the report.