Shopify

Merchants sold 119 billion dollars worth of goods through Shopify in just three months, up 29 percent from a year ago. Shopify's own revenue climbed 32 percent to 3.74 billion dollars, holding the same strong pace as last year. Growing above 30 percent at this size is rare, and Shopify is now building checkout into AI shopping assistants, a fresh way for people to shop.

Shopify kept 816 million dollars in spare cash this quarter, about 22 cents of every sales dollar, up from 507 million dollars and 18 cents a year ago. Profit from running the business jumped 66 percent to 568 million dollars, and net income rose 75 percent to 462 million dollars. It also spent 562 million dollars buying back its own stock.

Shopify is valued at roughly 200 billion dollars, which is steep compared to most software companies, so a lot of good news is already priced in. The stock also tends to swing more than two and a half times as hard as the overall market, so one soft quarter can knock a big chunk off the price fast.

Payments and other merchant services grew 35 percent to 2.91 billion dollars, while the higher profit subscription side grew just 20 percent to 836 million dollars. Because the thinner slice is growing faster, the money Shopify keeps after direct costs rose only 28 percent, slower than sales. Management expects that gap to stick around next quarter, guiding for sales growth in the low thirties and profit growth in the high twenties.