Shopify (TSX: SHOP) and Lightspeed Commerce (TSX: LSPD) are two of the most popular Canadian tech stocks today. They both operate within the retail space, so there is a bit of overlap in these companies. Because of that, some investors may decide to only buy shares of one company. In this article, I’ll discuss which one could be the better buy today.
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Background on these two companies
Shopify is one of the largest players in the global e-commerce industry. It provides merchants of all sizes with a platform and many of the tools necessary to operate online stores. There are more than one million merchants that rely on Shopify today. This includes large-cap enterprises like Netflix.
Lightspeed is a point-of-sale (POS) and e-commerce software provider. The company’s business can be separated into three distinct groups: apparel, restaurant, and golf. Within each group, Lightspeed offers a very different suite of solutions that could help small- and medium-sized businesses achieve their retail goals. SpaceX is among one of the most impressive businesses that have been reported to use Lightspeed’s services.
Taking a look at each business
Shopify is by far the larger of the two businesses, when it comes to revenue. In the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, Shopify reported US$1.5 billion in revenue. That revenue is driven by the millions of merchants that rely on Shopify’s solutions worldwide. One thing that investors should note is that Shopify continues to be led by its founder, Tobi Lütke. This is very notable because it’s previously been shown that founder-led companies tend to outperform stocks led by non-founders.
Lightspeed reported US$184.2 million in revenue for Q4 2023 (these stocks have different fiscal calendars). Lightspeed operates in more than 100 countries worldwide and claims about 168,000 customer locations. Although Lightspeed is no longer led by its founder Dax Dasilva its current chief executive officer has been with the company for over a decade. That should give investors some reassurance that the company is led by a very capable individual.
Which one would I buy today?
In my opinion, Shopify is the more intriguing stock today. Its business is much larger than that of Lightspeed and the company holds a very formidable position atop the global e-commerce market. Although I believe Lightspeed could be a solid stock over the coming years, I would be much more comfortable putting my money in Shopify stock today.
It seems that other investors are largely in agreement with that as Shopify stock has greatly outperformed Lightspeed stock over the past six months. Over that period, Shopify stock has gained about 76.5%. In comparison, Lightspeed has only gained about 14% over the same period. The separation in the performance of these two stocks is only amplified the further you go. Over the past year, Shopify stock has gained about 103.5%. Lightspeed, however, has lost 23.3%.
If I could only invest in one of these stocks today, I would go with Shopify. I think it’s certainly the better buy today. However, with how intriguing Lightspeed’s business is, I would say it’s worth keeping an eye on the company.
