As mentioned in yesterday’s commentary, I was considering adding to the position in Unity Software shares. With this morning’s substantial decline in most IT stocks for a variety of reasons, the opportunity was there to add to the Unity position a day before its earnings release. It isn’t my usual style to do something like…
Ticker Target Invest Philosophy In the wake of the excruciating fall of high growth IT shares I have been asked frequently about the Ticker Target investment philosophy and how it works in these difficult times. Obviously in looking at a drawdown of 34% in just over 6 weeks provides plenty of motivation for introspection and…
Just as a point of interest, today is AI Appreciation Day. I have no immediate plans to celebrate, other than to note that marketers can find reason to celebrate something every day of the year, and today is for AI. One lady wrote on one of the AI sites that I read that she has opted…
Summary Shopify shares have experienced significant volatility, with a recent implosion in share price following a disappointing earnings report. Despite this, Shopify has consistently adapted to changing ecommerce environments and has become the largest competitor in its space. The company’s ability to add new merchants at an accelerated pace and its focus on providing a…
Summary Affirm shares trebled in the last 2 months of 2023 before retracing about 1/3rd of the move. Affirm has recently extended its relationships with both Amazon and Walmart. The Buy Now/Pay Later space apparently achieved an inflection in volume over the Black Friday weekend. Published expectations for Affirm are quite modest considering its expanded…
Summary Affirm’s partnerships with Amazon and Shopify have solidified its leadership position in the buy now, pay later (BN/PL) sector. The company’s use of AI technology has also helped protect it against rising delinquencies.Despite facing challenges such as interest rate increases and a slowdown in consumer spending growth, Affirm has made strides in terms improving…
Summary Shopify reported a quarter that was significantly above prior expectations and provided upside guidance as well.It has substantially reprioritized its corporate strategy, abandoning its quest to match Amazon logistics, and focusing on cutting edge e-commerce technology.Notionally, Shopify’s valuation after its share price hike is not cheap.To support the investment case, market share gains, mainly…
Affirm: Can it satisfy investors in a fraught environment Investing in the fintech space has not been good for the performance of a portfolio during the past 14+ months. Supreme understatement, I suppose. Depending on the definition of fintech, most of the group has imploded. In terms of winners, there has been Shift4 Payments (FOUR) and…
To say this has been a horrible year for investors in high growth IT space is somewhat akin to the statement made by the Emperor of Japan announcing its defeat and surrender of his country in August 1945 to the effect that the war had developed “not necessarily to our advantage.” This has been the…
Taking a look at a very fallen angel Wix, (WIX) the subject of this article, is a very fallen angel. It was one of the first IT vendors to see falling growth, and it has perhaps reached something of a nadir in that category. When the company last reported in August, it commented that it had seen…