[ad_1]
Mizuho and TD Cowen believe that artificial intelligence will act as a structural tailwind for Shopify rather than a disruption risk. The two banks upgraded the e-commerce platform following its fourth-quarter report, with Shopify’s $3.67 billion revenue surpassing FactSet’s consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. The company’s operating income of $631 million rose 36% versus the $465 million it reported a year ago. Shopify’s $715 million free cash flow also topped FactSet’s expectation of $685.4 million. Shares of Shopify added 1.2% on Thursday morning. The stock has plunged 26% in 2026 and has slipped 1% over the past 12 months. SHOP 1Y mountain SHOP 1Y chart Mizuho analyst Siti Panigrahi upgraded Shopify to an outperform rating from neutral. The analyst’s $150 price target implies that shares could rally 26%. Panigrahi applauded Shopify’s “superb” execution over recent quarters and its strong momentum across all major growth vectors. He also pointed to agentic upside as a catalyst and believes that Shopify could hedge against rising artificial intelligence fears. “We see AI acting as a structural tailwind for SHOP rather than a disruption risk, and believe the company is well positioned to sustain accelerated share gains, by enabling merchants to leverage multiple channels for commerce,” he wrote. “Amid rising fears of AI disruption to software, we view Shopify as one of the companies best-positioned to outperform over the NTM and view the recent pull-back (-26% YTD vs. IGV -21%) as an attractive entry point.” TD Cowen analyst John Shao also applauded Shopify’s combination of a strong quarter and its continued growth momentum despite seasonality. Like Panigrahi, he believes that the stock’s recent pullback offers an attractive entry point for investors. Shao’s $159 price target offers upside of 34%. Shao cited Shopify’s strong fundamentals as a tailwind for the stock. And while investors looking for immediate AI monetization opportunities may have been left disappointed, Shao believes that Shopify’s approach in fostering goodwill with merchants will lead to better results in the long term. “In our view, we believe Shopify is currently casting a wider net to capture more merchants interested in selling on LLM channels, and talking about AI monetization when the market is still at an early stage will simply hurt the goodwill that SHOP has been trying to foster,” he wrote. “This conservative approach is also consistent with OpenAI just charging a 4% advertising fee, well below the mid-teens fee rate by major marketplaces.”
[ad_2]
Source link
