ChatGPT Predicts Shopify Stock Price: Will AI's Guess Be Accurate for Year-End 2024?

Shopify stock has been on a remarkable rally this year, rocketing upward by nearly 47% year-to-date as of midday Nov. 18. But has the stock reached its relative ceiling, with little room left to grow?

A recent Finbold report indicated otherwise.

ChatGPT Predicts an Increase in Shopify Stock Price To Close Out 2024

Despite massive growth over the better part of the past decade — the brand has been "on fire since we started covering the company just over eight years ago," according to The Motley Fool's Iain Butler — it appears that there is still a little more room for Shopify stock to tick upward as 2024 draws to a close.

Setting ChatGPT-4o to the task of predicting the future of the Shopify stock as the year draws to an end, Finbold found the AI predicting a modest positive return, one conservatively hedged.

"The AI predicts Shopify’s stock could reach $115 to $120 by year-end, supported by robust growth drivers yet tempered by lingering challenges," Finbold reported. The stock price rested at $106.32 as of 3 p.m. ET on Nov. 18.

When summarizing ChatGPT's lengthy prediction, Finbold underscored the following AI-highlighted tailwinds supporting a growth case for Shopify:

• Strong holiday sales expectations focused both on "increased consumer spending" and "heightened merchant activity" throughout the season.
• Massive global expansion, with ChatGPT indicating gross market value growth of 30% year-over-year (YoY) outside of North America and 35% (or better) in certain European markets, such as France and Germany.
• Innovative merchant tools, with the AI model gesturing toward Shopify Inbox, Shopify Flow, and Shopify Tax as being responsible for improved operational efficiency and enhanced merchant capabilities before stating that these tools drive higher engagement.

As for headwinds facing Shopify's growth, ChatGPT cited valuation concerns, a highly competitive space populated by Amazon in particular, and macroeconomic uncertainties common to most sectors as being most problematic.

Beyond ChatGPT: What Are Human Analysts Saying About Shopify Stock?

ChatGPT may not be far off the mark in its predictions, at least according to certain experts.

According to a Nov. 15 analysis from Zacks Equity Research, Shopify remains a decent bet for investors.

"Our proprietary system currently recommends Shopify as one such stock. This company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Zacks Rank," Zacks stated. "While the overall earnings estimate revisions have made Shopify a Zacks Rank #2 stock, it has earned itself a Growth Score of B based on a number of factors ... This combination positions Shopify well for outperformance, so growth investors may want to bet on it."

Zacks pointed to strong projected sales growth (with expected earnings per share growth of 53.4%, much higher than the industry average of 35.6%), strong sales growth (projected growth of 23.7%, versus a flat industry average of 0%), an impressive asset utilization ratio, and "promising" earnings estimate revisions as backing its support of a Shopify stock purchase.

In a conversation with fellow Motley Fool analyst Nick Sciple held on Nov. 15, Iain Butler made his case for Shopify plain.

"Shopify was not profitable. But this most recent quarter, they reported 19% free cash flow margin. And just another fun little stat: Back then, they had 1,000 employees. Today they are over 8,000 employees, and I think they’ve gone from focusing on small merchants to all merchants, and they’ve even gone beyond online. They have an offline business. Now they are going business-to-business, not just business-to-customer, and they’ve really expanded an international business, too. So the company has just exploded," Butler said.

"It continues to sort of grow new tentacles, expanding on what it’s got in its core and growing beyond that. So it’s a fun company to read about every quarter, as opposed to a lot of the companies that we come across where there’s a lot of 'yeah, this is good, but …' Everything just continues to roll very nicely for Shopify," Butler added.

On the other hand, Barchart financial writer Amit Singh suggested that short-term investors wait for a better time to buy in, as — despite solid fundamentals and growth potential — "the recent stock rally [had] priced in much of the near-term optimism."