Ottawa’s Shopify joined a wave of “stay-at-home” stocks that took a beating on Monday in the wake of news that a pharmaceutical giant’s coronavirus vaccine had shown promising results.
The e-commerce powerhouse’s stock price dipped nearly 14 per cent – or more than $185 – to $1,173.53 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The downturn came after Pfizer said an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90 per cent effective at preventing COVID-19, indicating the company is on track later this month to file an emergency use application with U.S. regulators.
Shopify surpassed RBC to become Canada’s most valuable publicly traded company earlier this year as merchants flocked to its platform during the pandemic-fuelled online shopping boom.
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Despite beating Wall Street’s revenue expectations by more than $100 million in its most recent earnings report, the Ottawa-based company sought to temper expectations for the fourth quarter, saying demand for its products “depends on several external factors that are particularly fluid at present.”
Shopify is one of a number of tech stocks that have boomed as people increasingly work and shop from home during the pandemic, and many of those companies took a major hit on Monday.
Fellow Ottawa firm Kinaxis – which has seen its stock price more than double during the pandemic as usage of its supply-chain management software has skyrocketed – was down nearly 10 per cent on the TSX.
South of the border, Zoom Video’s shares shed more than 17 per cent of their value on the NASDAQ, while Amazon’s shares fell about five per cent and Netflix stock dropped more than 8.5 per cent on the same exchange.
Meanwhile, other companies that have struggled during the COVID-19 crisis saw their fortunes turn as it appeared there could be some light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to curbing the spread of the virus.
Shares in Air Canada, for example, jumped nearly 30 per cent on the TSX – despite the fact the country’s largest airline reported a loss of $685 million in the third quarter. Cruise operator Carnival Corp., meanwhile, saw its stock soar nearly 40 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange.
– With files from the Associated Press
