Shopify Inc. beat profit expectations for the latest quarter and projected margin improvement for the current one, but its shares were pulling back in Tuesday’s premarket action.
The company, which enables businesses to run online shops, posted fourth-quarter net income of $657 million, or 51 cents a share, whereas Shopify
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logged a net loss of $623 million, or 49 cents a share, in the year-before quarter.
On an adjusted basis, Shopify posted 34 cents in earnings per share, up from 7 cents a year prior and ahead of the FactSet consensus, which was for 30 cents.
Shopify’s revenue rose to $2.1 billion from $1.7 billion and matched the FactSet consensus.
Gross merchandise volume rose 23% to $75.1 billion, while analysts had been looking for $72.2 billion. That marked a growth acceleration, the company said in its release.
Shopify’s stock was off about 3% in Tuesday’s premarket trading.
“For 2024, we look to build on the momentum that we achieved in 2023 and continue to deliver a strong combination of both top-line growth and profitability,” Chief Financial Officer Jeff Hoffmeister said in a release.
Shopify expects 2024 revenue to grow at a “low-twenties” percentage rate from a year earlier, or a “mid-to-high twenties” rate when factoring in the impact of Shopify’s sale of its logistics business.
The company also models a 150 basis-point sequential improvement in gross margin during the first quarter.
