Analysts Slash Price Targets on Shopify

Analysts Slash Price Targets on Shopify
An employee works at Shopify's headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Oct. 22, 2018. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)
Benzinga
2/19/2022
Updated:
2/19/2022

Analysts slashed their price targets on Shopify Inc. post Q4 results over international expansion and recalibrated investments.

Jefferies analyst Samad Samana lowered the PT to $1,350 from $1,800 (80.8 percent upside) and reiterated a Buy.

Shopify’s guidance commentary implies a return to pre-COVID GMV seasonality and that its operating and capital expenses will “ramp dramatically over the next several years,” which will limit intermediate-term profitability.

Stifel analyst Scott Devitt lowered the PT to $1,000 from $1,300 (33.9 percent upside) and maintained a Buy.

Shopify plans to reinvest all gross profit dollars in 2022 through accelerated OpEx spending and CapEx of $200 million. In the intermediate-term, the company expects $1 billion in CapEx between 2023 and 2024 related to the development of SFN.

Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney lowered the PT to $1,000 from $1,770 and kept an Outperform.

Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin lowered the PT to $900 from $1,400 (20.5 percent upside) and kept an Overweight. Driven in part by the decision to expand into fulfillment services more aggressively, Shopify plans to raise both operating and capital expenses into 2024, said Bracelin.

Deutsche Bank analyst Bhavin Shah lowered the PT to $900 from $1,400 and kept a Hold.

Oppenheimer analyst Brian Schwartz lowered the PT to $960 from $1,350 (28.5 percent upside) and kept an Outperform. The year 2022 is shaping up to be a back-end loaded year with a down operating margin, and this profile could be an overhang on the stock near-term, given Shopify’s growth is decelerating.

Mizuho analyst Siti Panigrahi lowered the PT to $800 from $900 (7.1 percent upside) and kept a Neutral. The gross margin came in below consensus due to greater Merchant Solution revenue mix and Payments penetration.

RBC Capital analyst Paul Treiber lowered the PT to $1,300 from $1,450 (74.1 percent upside) and reiterated Outperform.

Roth Capital analyst Darren Aftahi downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a PT of $850 (13.8 percent upside), down from $1,400. While plans for international expansion and recalibrated investment seek to limit further growth decelerations in fiscal 2022, it does so with a material impact on profitability,

Wedbush analyst Ygal Arounian lowered the PT to $937 from $1,270 (25.5 percent upside) and kept an Outperform.

By Anusuya Lahiri
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