Epigraph:
Every human life is precious and sacred and saving one is like the saving of the whole of humanity. (Al Quran 5:32/33)
Source: Yahoo Finance
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revealed that the government has been working with Canadian tech giants Shopify (SHOP) and BlackBerry (BB) on a contact-tracing Covid-19 app to be launched early July.
“It will be up to individual Canadians to decide whether to download the app or not, but the app will be most effective when as many people as possible have it,” Trudeau stated during Thursday’s daily briefing, as Covid-19 cases in Canada officially reached 100,000.
PM Justin Trudeau
He added that it would be ‘extraordinary useful’ if half of Canadians sign up. “There are over 30 million smartphones that could take this app in Canada, so we can talk about a significant portion of the Canadian population that could be protected by this app” the Prime Minister said.
The app, named COVID Alert, will first be launched in Ontario, then rolled out to the rest of the country. Users voluntarily upload Covid-19 test results to the app, which then sends anonymized updates to anyone with the app who came into contact with positive test cases within the last two weeks. Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the app “100% private.”
Shopify commented that company volunteers are helping develop the app, saying it is “not a Shopify initiative.” “The national app will be owned and operated by the government of Canada in cooperation with the provinces and territories,” said SHOP spokeswoman Sheryl So. Meanwhile BlackBerry is conducting the security review.
The best of the Muslim Times’ collection for war against Covid 19:
In this day and age, understanding bacteria and viruses and developing vaccines are national security issues. In my view sizable part of every country’s defense budget should be spent in these pursuits rather than making tanks and other weapons.
For the latest news about drugs and vaccines’ trials please go to: Pharmaceutical-Technology
For the latest health news from BBC, Please click here
Novavax starting human trial of its vaccine in Australia
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Corona Fear’s Cure: Chanting from the Bible and the Quran
Can You Chant from the Bible or the Quran to Bliss and Happiness?
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The Muslim Times has the best collections in the war against Covid 19 as we are collecting from all the established sources
All of humanity are intimate neighbors: Coronavirus proves it once again
Praise be to God for the Miracle of Our Immune System
USA: 15-minute coronavirus test is here
Does the Ordinary Soap Kill Coronavirus?
Here’s a list of disinfectants you can use against coronavirus
For the number of cases and epidemiology in each country go to: WorldOMeters
DAILY NEW CASES AND DEATHS IN US, CDC SITE
Categories: Finance, Health, Science and Technology, The Muslim Times
New Data Shows Shopify Was a Godsend for Mom and Pop During Coronavirus
By Stephen McBride
68-year-old Jan Buerge was days away from losing everything. For 35 years, she has run World’s Window in Kansas City, a store that sells artisanal items from around the world. In March, she was forced to close her doors because of coronavirus.
But she didn’t give up. She just needed a plan, and fast. She snapped pictures of her remaining items. And quickly got them online with the help of her husband and nephew. Within three days, business was booming. Buerge was shipping baskets made from South African telephone wires and metal plaques made in Haiti to customers around the nation.
Buerge didn’t do it alone. As I’ll show you, a once “hated” stock has been a savior for millions of mom-and-pop shops across America. It handles all the “plumbing” of online selling… Like payments, shipping, and marketing… and it’s poised to rocket higher in the years ahead…
https://www.etftrends.com/disruptive-technology-channel/new-data-shows-shopify-was-a-godsend-for-mom-and-pop-during-coronavirus/
Chipotle is launching an online farmers market so fans can buy fresh products straight from farmers in Chipotle’s supply chain. The Chipotle Virtual Farmers Market is powered by Shopify and is one way the brand is supporting farmers during the ongoing pandemic.
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused a crisis within food supply chains, with many farmers struggling to sell their fresh goods since restaurants, hotels, and schools are all closed, a press release stated. This marketplace idea by Chipotle is meant to help farmers get revenue in a new way, Chief Marking Officer of Chipotle Chris Brandt said.
“It can be intimidating for many family farms to change the way they do business, so we’re giving our suppliers the right tools and resources to successfully launch improved eCommerce platforms,” he explained: “Our Food with Integrity values start with our farmers and helping them adapt to new technologies and ways of reaching the consumer is crucial for both the future of the farming industry and Chipotle.”
Four different food suppliers are part of the online market thus far: Niman Ranch, Petaluma Creamery, McKaskle Family Farm, and Meister Cheese. Chipotle gets pork for carnitas, beef for barbacoa and steak, shredded Monterey Jack cheese for toppings and queso, and brown rice from these farms.
By visiting the Chipotle Farmers Market site you can buy restaurant-quality ingredients to use at home. For inspiration once you order your farm fresh products, Chipotle will also be posting recipe ideas that use the ingredients on their TikTok account.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chipotle-launched-virtual-farmers-market-171000636.html
Let me put Shopify’s nose-bleed valuation into context. During the dot-com bubble, Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Cisco were three tech stocks that caused a lot of pain for many years after the bubble burst, even though all three were ultimately success stories. It took just about a decade for Amazon stock to reclaim its dot-com bubble high, and even longer for Microsoft. Cisco still hasn’t, even though it’s the overwhelmingly dominant provider of networking hardware and a successful company by any measure.
Today, Shopify trades at a higher enterprise value-to-sales ratio than Amazon did at its dot-com peak. The story may turn out well for Shopify in the long run, like it has for Amazon. But don’t let survivorship bias fool you. For every Amazon, there were many stocks with sound premises and sky-high valuations during the dot-com boom that crashed and burned, never to recover.
A nonsensical stock price can become more nonsensical – that’s how bubbles work. But as Ben Graham said, the market is a voting machine in the short run and a weighing machine in the long run. Right now, Shopify is winning a popularity contest. It won’t last forever.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/05/shopify-stock-is-more-expensive-than-amazon-ever-w.aspx
As you can see, Shopify’s market cap just topped $120 billion and the stock price has pushed past $1,000 a share. “It’s very rare to have a company of this size see a quintupling of its valuation over the course of just a few months, but for Shopify, it’s just happened,” Brown wrote.
The torrid performance is just another example — a wildly successful example — of a company that has benefited from the shifting landscape amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“Shopify’s software and services are used by traditional retailers who want to go online and compete with the Amazon AMZN, +5.76% juggernaut,” he said. “It’s a great story and a huge opportunity.”
But has it come too far too fast and does it risk getting crushed under the weight of expectations?
Shopify is trading at 2,000 times estimated current year profits and is close to 60 times current year sales, which makes it the most richly valued large-cap company outside of the biotech sector, according to Barron’s technology columnist Eric Savitz.
“Shopify is a fast-growing company providing a useful service,” Savitz wrote. “But if there’s a good argument that it deserves to be the most expensive stock on Earth, I have yet to hear it.”
Speaking of Earth, perhaps the fate of the stock lies elsewhere?
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/in-a-stock-market-teeming-with-bloated-valuations-this-could-be-the-most-expensive-stock-on-earth-2020-07-06
Have you heard of Shopify (SHOP)?
Shopify builds online stores for mom-and-pop shops. From creating the website, to shipping orders, to processing payments, Shopify is a “one-stop shop” for anyone wanting to sell online.
Americans are spending more money online than ever before. In 2009, internet shopping was a $100 billion business. Last year consumers spent over $600 billion online. The thing is, mom-and-pop shops only grab a tiny slice of the pie.
There are 30 million small businesses in the US. They make up 99.9% of all companies in America. And according to IRS data, firms with less than $100,000 in annual sales raked in a combined $2.2 trillion last year. Yet almost none of this happens online.
A recent CNBC poll found almost half of small businesses don’t even have a website. And according to Gallup, 2/3 of mom-and-pop stores that sell online generate less than 10% of their sales on the internet.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenmcbride1/2020/07/24/shopify-is-seizing-an-80-billion-pot-of-gold/#4cc91de94f09
First and foremost, investors will want to look at revenue growth. In its fiscal first quarter, revenue grew 47% year over year. Moreover, the bulk of that period came before coronavirus containment measures took effect. Needless to say, expectations are high, and it would not be surprising to see revenue growth accelerate from the prior quarter.
It will also be interesting to observe the monthly recurring revenue (MRR) metric. This is the value of monthly subscriptions held by merchants at Shopify. In its most recent quarter, it reported MRR of $55.4 million. Importantly, Shopify is growing MRR at a compounded annual rate of 50% since its first quarter in 2015.
In June 2019, the company announced a five-year $1 billion investment to build and operate the Shopify Fulfillment Network. Given the surge in businesses moving to digital, investors should track if the company speeds up this investment or announces an increase in the capital allocation to it. With investment in this initiative, Shopify has the opportunity to gain market share in U.S. retail e-commerce, where it currently has a 6% share. Leader Amazon dominates with 37% of the market.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/27/heres-what-to-watch-when-shopify-reports-earnings.aspx
The company refrained from providing second-quarter guidance citing COVID-19 induced uncertainties prevailing in the market.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is currently pegged at $502.97 million, suggesting growth of 38.95% from the year-ago quarter.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for bottom line is pegged at break-even, which narrowed from a loss of one cent in the past seven days. The company reported earnings of 14 cents in the prior-year quarter.
Notably, the company has surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 169.34%.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/beat-store-shopify-shop-earnings-150103930.html
Shopify is expected to report earnings of $0.00/share on $455.95 million in revenue. Meanwhile, the so-called Whisper number is $0.09. The Whisper number is the Street’s unofficial view on earnings.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamsarhan/2020/07/28/earnings-preview-what-to-expect-from-shopify-on-wednesday/#ba081361600a
Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) is scheduled to announce Q2 earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th, before market open.
The consensus EPS Estimate is $0.01 (-92.9% Y/Y) and the consensus Revenue Estimate is $511.56M (+41.3% Y/Y).
Analysts expects Gross merchandise volume of $19.90B; Subscription revenue of $192M.
Over the last 2 years, SHOP has beaten EPS estimates 88% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 100% of the time.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3596013-shopify-q2-2020-earnings-preview
Amazon . com Inc. said it has acquired Australian e-commerce company Selz, in a deal that underscores an increased focus on fast-growing rival Shopify Inc.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. A spokeswoman for Amazon said the deal, which Selz announced on its website about a month ago, has been completed and nothing will change for Selz’s merchants or their customers.
Founded in 2013, Selz serves as an online platform that helps small and medium-size companies launch and maintain their online businesses. The private company employs more than 30 people, according to data firm PitchBook. Previous backers include Macdoch Venture and Adcock Private Equity, PitchBook said.
Amazon has heightened its efforts to match fast-growing Shopify, which also aids small merchants in creating online shops. Last year, Amazon created a secret team named “Project Santos” to replicate part of Shopify’s business model, The Wall Street Journal reported in December.
As the pandemic has made online shopping more popular, brick-and-mortar stores have invested more into their e-commerce presence. Some estimates have the sector expanding by 50% in 2020.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-completes-purchase-of-shopify-competitor-selz-11613513401?mod=hp_lista_pos5