1. Trends & External Forces

Shopify, Porch Lead Surge in ConnectedEconomy100 Index

It’s a rare occasion when the Connected Economy 100 (CE100™) Index outperforms the broader markets, but we’ve seen that happen in the past week.

To that end, the CE100 stock index surged by 5.7%, well beyond the 3.6% gains seen with the S&P 500. All pillars gained ground, but the best performing index could be found with the “Shopping” names, which gained almost 9%.

CE100 Relative Performance

Source: PYMNTS

Pinterest drove the rally here, gathering 15.7%. The stock jumped on the heels of news that the company’s shares had been upgraded by sell-side firm Wolfe Research. The upgraded “outperform” has a $28 price target, looking for “meaningful upside” under new CEO Bill Ready.

Meanwhile, Shopify was 15.6% higher. During the week, news came that Luxlock will offer new shopping options on Shopify through a partnership with Web3 open source software development company Smart Token Labs.

See also: Shopify, eCommerce Platform Luxlock Team on Token-Gated Shopping

Luxlock, according to reports, has 37 partner stores on Shopify and believes non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can “be an integral part of connecting brands and consumers to more intimate and exclusive experiences, with token-gated experiences that can increase exposure and awareness to an emerging consumer group.” Shopify has also sought to persuade merchants using Amazon’s Buy with Prime service to drop the Amazon addition.

The “Work” segment followed up with a 7.4% gain as DocuSign rallied 17%. The company said in its most recent earnings report that its top line was $622.2 million, an increase of 22% year over year. Subscription revenue was $605.2 million, an increase of 23% year over year, according to the company.

In terms of individual company performance, Porch Group shares skyrocketed by 22% — leading the “Live” index, which saw a 7% overall surge. Late last month, Porch Pro, a Porch Group business unit and lead generation marketplace, and MarketSharp, an EverPro solution by EverCommerce and cloud-based CRM for home service professionals, announced a software integration focused on helping contractors save money and improve operations.

Separately, within the “Have Fun” group, Roblox shares gained more than 20%. TechCrunch reported this past week that Roblox is funding $10 million “toward a handful of select projects” to help fund growth.

Banking Names Higher, Too

Banking names were 4% higher among the “worst” performing verticals we track in our CE100 pantheon.

Within the banking sector, LendingClub gained a bit more than 5%, while J.P. Morgan Chase was up 4.8%. The latter company said this past week that Morgan Health, one of the bank’s business units, announced a $20 million strategic investment in LetsGetChecked, a global healthcare solutions company that provides clinical tools to manage patients’ health from home.

View Original Article
http://www.pymnts.com
Do you like Pymnts.com's articles? Follow on social!