What happened
Shares of Shopify (SHOP -2.37%) jumped 7% to a new closing high of $1,053.59 on Wednesday, following the release of the commerce platform's blockbuster second-quarter results.
So what
The coronavirus pandemic and related social distancing guidelines are driving more people to shop online than ever before. Businesses, many of which, were forced to close during the COVID-19 crisis, are rushing to migrate their operations to the internet.
And Shopify is helping them do so.
"The world is changing fast," CEO Tobi Lutke said in a press release. "With the rapid shift to online commerce, massive disruption to conventional employment, and growing conviction that opportunity needs to be more evenly distributed, entrepreneurship has never been more important."
Shopify's stock rose to a record high on Wednesday, as investors cheered its impressive Q2 results. Image source: Getty Images.
Merchants, in turn, are flocking to Shopify's platform. New store creations surged 71% sequentially. And these stores are collectively generating much greater sales. Shopify's second-quarter gross merchandise volume (GMV) -- essentially, the total amount of sales merchants made on its platform -- soared 119% year over year to $30.1 billion. Shopify's revenue, meanwhile, surged 97%, to $714.3 million.
All told, Shopify's adjusted net income came in at $129.4 million, or $1.05 per share, up from $10.7 million, or $0.10 per share, in the prior-year period.
Now what
Shopify's ascent has been breathtaking. After today's gains, its stock is now up 165% year to date, 213% over the past year, and 4,000% since its 2015 initial public offering (IPO). With powerful trends such as the global growth of e-commerce and entrepreneurship fueling its expansion, Shopify appears poised to deliver even more gains to investors in the coming years.
