Shopify forecasts full-year revenue above estimates, shares rise

(Reuters) – Canadian e-commerce company Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) on Wednesday posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, helped by higher holiday sales, and forecast full-year revenue above Wall Street estimates, sending its U.S.-listed shares up about 9%.

Shopify lets small businesses sell goods and services to customers by setting up stores on its platform. Last year, it set aside over $1 billion to build fulfillment centers in the United States as it takes on larger rivals Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and EBay Inc (EBAY.O).

For full year 2020, it forecast revenue in a range of $2.13 billion to $2.16 billion, above the average analysts’ average estimate of $2.11 billion according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Shopify reported worldwide sales of over $2.9 billion between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, up about 61% from the same period in 2018.

The company posted net income of $771,000, or 1 cent per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with net loss of $1.5 million, or 1 cent per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, it earned 43 cents per share, beating the average estimate of 23 cents per share.

The Ottawa-based company’s total revenue jumped 47% to $505.2 million from $343.9 million a year earlier, also beating the estimate of $482.5 million.