Shopify soars as AI focus powers quarterly beat, bullish forecast

(Reuters) -Shopify beat analysts' estimates for second-quarter results and forecast upbeat sales growth on Wednesday as its AI-enabled tools attracted more merchants to its e-commerce services, sending its shares up more than 20%.

The Canadian company, which helps small and medium businesses build an online store as well as sell, has been rolling out artificial intelligence-powered features and in June increased the availability of such tools.

Shopify's U.S.-listed shares were set for their best day at current levels, after declining 30% this year following downbeat revenue forecast in February and May.

"Nonetheless, this double beat and raise is a slam dunk amid an uncertain macro environment, helping to alleviate investors' concerns about possible weakness in consumer health," said Charlie Miner, analyst at Third Bridge.

Brands including Toys "R" Us, Mas+ by Lionel Messi and Dios Mio Coffee by Sofia Vergara launched on the Shopify platform in the second quarter.

"Cross-border sales made up about 14% of our GMV in Q2 and merchants are really eager to reach new regions, especially when they notice more international traffic on their sites," President Harley Finkelstein said on a post-earnings call.

Gross merchandise volume (GMV), which is the total amount of sales, rose 22% to $67.2 billion in the quarter ended June.

Shopify in June launched the Shop Week, and Finkelstein said more than 10,000 merchants posted their best GMV week ever on the company's Shop App.

The company reported a 21% jump in second-quarter revenue to $2.05 billion, compared with analysts' average estimate of $2.01 billion, according to LSEG data.

Excluding items, the company earned 26 cents per share, beating estimates of 20 cents.

The company expects third-quarter revenue to grow at a low-to-mid-twenties percentage rate year-over-year, largely above estimates for a growth of 20.8%.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)