E-commerce Software Stocks Q3 Teardown: Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP) Vs The Rest
Earnings results often give us a good indication of what direction a company will take in the months ahead. With Q3 now behind us, let’s have a look at Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP) and its peers.
While e-commerce has been around for over two decades and enjoyed meaningful growth, its overall penetration of retail still remains low. Only around $1 in every $5 spent on retail purchases comes from digital orders, leaving over 80% of the retail market still ripe for online disruption. It is these large swathes of the retail where e-commerce has not yet taken hold that drives the demand for various e-commerce software solutions.
The 6 e-commerce software stocks we track reported a mixed Q3; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 0.9% while next quarter's revenue guidance was 0.8% above consensus. Valuation multiples for growth stocks have reverted to their historical means after reaching highs in early 2021, but e-commerce software stocks held their ground better than others, with the share prices up 20.9% on average since the previous earnings results.
Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP)
Founded in New York City in 2003, Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP) is a platform for small businesses and creators to build their digital presences online.
Squarespace reported revenues of $257.1 million, up 18.1% year on year, topping analyst expectations by 2%. It was a decent quarter for the company, with strong sales guidance for the next quarter but a decline in its gross margin.
"We are on track to exceed $1 billion in total revenue by the end of 2023, a significant milestone for Squarespace as we continue to expand our offerings and footprint globally," said Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO of Squarespace.
Squarespace pulled off the highest full-year guidance raise of the whole group. The stock is up 3.5% since the results and currently trades at $31.12.
Is now the time to buy Squarespace? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Best Q3: Shopify (NYSE:SHOP)
Originally created as an internal tool for a snowboarding company, Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) provides a software platform for building and operating e-commerce businesses.
Shopify reported revenues of $1.71 billion, up 25.5% year on year, outperforming analyst expectations by 2.6%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in its gross margin and a decent beat of analysts' revenue estimates.
Shopify scored the biggest analyst estimates beat and fastest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is up 55.3% since the results and currently trades at $75.82.
Is now the time to buy Shopify? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Weakest Q3: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN)
While the company is not a domain registrar and does not directly sell domain names to end users, Verisign (NASDAQ:VRSN) operates and maintains the infrastructure to support domain names such as .com and .net.
VeriSign reported revenues of $376.3 million, up 5.4% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 0.8%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with a miss of analysts' revenue estimates.
VeriSign had the weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. The stock is down 3.6% since the results and currently trades at $197.59.
Read our full analysis of VeriSign's results here.
BigCommerce (NASDAQ:BIGC)
Founded in Sydney, Australia in 2009 by Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani, BigCommerce (NASDAQ:BIGC) provides software for businesses to easily create online stores.
BigCommerce reported revenues of $78.05 million, up 7.8% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 0.1%. It was a weak quarter for the company as it continued to burn cash, while the revenue outlook for the next quarter came in roughly in line with Wall Street's expectations.
BigCommerce had the weakest full-year guidance update among its peers. The stock is down 14.3% since the results and currently trades at $8.6.
Read our full, actionable report on BigCommerce here, it's free.
Wix (NASDAQ:WIX)
Founded in 2006 in Tel Aviv, Wix.com (NASDAQ:WIX) offers a free and easy to operate website building platform.
Wix reported revenues of $393.8 million, up 13.9% year on year, surpassing analyst expectations by 1.1%. It an impressive "beat and raise" quarter. It was also encouraging to see Wix slightly beat analysts' revenue guidance expectations.
The stock is up 33% since the results and currently trades at $119.56.
Read our full, actionable report on Wix here, it's free.
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The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned
