The CE 100 Stock Index surged 7.9% as Shopify and Affirm led the way with highflying gains that topped 32%.
Nine of the 10 pillars gained ground, with the lone exception seen in the Work Pillar, which slipped 0.6%.
WeWork was the company that dragged the Work segment lower, plunging 66% in a week that saw the firm disclose in an SEC filing that it has withheld $6.4 million in interest payments that were due on Nov. 1, and has entered a 30-day grace period. WeWork has also said that it has reached a pact with creditors to postpone payment on other debt. In the meantime, media outlets such as The New York Times reported that WeWork is “perhaps days away from a bankruptcy filing.”
Meanwhile, the Shop segment soared 13.2% through the week. Shopify led the pack, as its shares advanced by more than 32.6%.
The company reported earnings that showed gross merchandise volume surging to 22% to $56.2 billion. Total revenue increased 25% to $1.7 billion. Merchant Solutions revenue increased 24% to $1.2 billion, driven, the company said, in part by Shopify Payments.
In her own take on the quarter’s results, Karen Webster noted that Shopify raised its guidance for the rest of the year, as volumes on and off the platform are set to rise.
As Webster wrote in a recent column, “with Shop Cash, Shopify is betting that it — and the Shop app — can be a tailwind for merchants, providing the extra financial incentive of free cash when shopping with them or other merchants that accept Shop Pay. It’s also betting that consumers will show more preference for these merchants. And that their first stop will be the Shop App, since they have balances to spend at their favorite merchants and others they might discover while there.”
Affirm followed Shopify’s meteoric rise, trailing just slightly with a 32.5% rally, and leading the Pay and be Paid segment 10.7% higher.
As reported this past week, Amazon Business is offering buy now, pay later (BNPL) services in collaboration with Affirm.
Amazon Business started rolling out Affirm late in the week to eligible sole proprietor businesses. It will be available at checkout to all eligible Amazon Business sole proprietor customers by Black Friday.
In detailing the pact, the companies said that when opting to use Affirm at checkout on Amazon Business and entering some information, small business owners will receive an instant credit decision and can choose from pay-over-time installments of three to 48 months upon approval.
Shares of DoorDash gained 30.9%. During the company’s most recent earnings report, PYMNTS detailed that DoorDash is finding opportunity to tap into its existing customer base in order to grow its eGrocery business.
“We have a strategic advantage because we have a network of consumers; we have a network of dashers already built out, and that’s allowing us to improve unit economics at a much faster pace,” the aggregator’s Chief Financial Officer Ravi Inukonda said, noting that the grocery business’s gross order value (GOV) has doubled relative to last year.
Total orders grew 24% year over year in the quarter to 543 million, with GOV rising to $16.8 billion.
DraftKings shares popped 26.6%. As detailed here, the gaming platform’s third quarter 2023 earnings results rose 57% year over year, rising to $790 million. The sports betting and iGaming platform also reported 2.3 million monthly unique payers in the third quarter, a 40% increase year over year. Average revenue per monthly unique payer increased by 14% to $114.