Shopify Defends Citron Research Drubbing

Shopify, the Canada based eCommerce software provider, is out defending its business after short-seller Citron Research slammed the company, sending shares down for two days in a row.

According to a report in Reuters, Citron Research said Shopify stocks are overvalued and that its marketing practices are questionable. The allegations prompted Shopify to come out swinging.

“We vigorously defend our business model and stand resolutely behind our mission and the success of our merchants,” the company told Reuters.

Reuters noted Shopify hasn’t had a profit since it was founded 13 years ago, though Citron Research is arguing the company “oversells” its potential profitability, according to the report.

Shopify reported total revenue of $151.7 million in its second quarter, up 75 percent from a year ago. The net loss for the three-month period was $14.0 million, or $0.15 per share, compared with $8.4 million, or $0.10 per share in the same time frame last year. Adjusted net loss for the second quarter was $1.1 million, or $0.01 per share, compared with an adjusted net loss of $3.0 million, or $0.04 per share, in the second quarter of 2016.

The pounding of the company’s stock came as Shopify announced it was integrating with Instagram. According to news from TechCrunch, Shopify has been testing the Instagram shopping service throughout this year and is now opening it up to the thousands of merchants using the social media site’s shopping platform. Shopify already has integration with Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Buzzfeed and others, reported TechCrunch.

With the tool, merchants on Instagram can now tag products for purchase, offering an option to do so directly within the mobile app. The feature will become easier to set up with the new integration, particularly for users that already sell products via Shopify, noted the report. According to TechCrunch, Shopify has said Instagram is a big driver of merchant store traffic and that the service could result in increased eCommerce sales. The rollout is being offered to thousands of select merchants but will eventually be available to hundreds of thousands of stores and sellers with accounts on the mobile app, the report noted.