Shopify CEO takes shot at analyst track records amid stock plunge
The head of Canada’s largest tech company is taking issue with the analysts that cover the firm.
In a series of tweets posted on Sunday, Shopify Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tobi Lutke asked why there isn’t more accountability from investors for the analyst community and its ability to accurately predict a company’s financial results.
Is there a place where financial analysts track records are kept? People seem to pay attention to them but are they being held accountable?
— tobi lutke (@tobi) May 8, 2022
Especially when it’s mostly macro economic factors that cause it. Raising tide raises all boats kinda stuff. That feels like analysts should really have that in their models.
— tobi lutke (@tobi) May 8, 2022
Lutke’s comments come as Shopify’s Canadian share price has plunged nearly 80 per cent since mid-November as investors sour on the e-commerce company’s growth potential.
Shopify President Harley Finkelstein said in a BNN Bloomberg interview on Friday that the company is in a “rebalancing” phase as physical stores reopen and shoppers are less reliant on purchasing items online as the global economy emerges from the pandemic.
Last week, Shopify reported first-quarter profit that fell short of analyst estimates.
The company currently has 25 buy recommendations, 18 holds and three sell recommendations from analysts, according to Bloomberg. Analysts have a 12-month price target for the company’s U.S.-listed shares of US$587.32, indicating a return of roughly 68 per cent.
Out of the analysts that have updated their Shopify price targets this year, Harshit Gupta of Toronto-based ARC Independent Research is the most bullish with a price target of US$1,103.49 and a buy recommendation, as shown by Bloomberg data.
