2. Shopify Inc (NASDAQ:SHOP)
ARK’s Stake Value: $640.5 Million
E-commerce platform company Shopify Inc (NASDAQ:SHOP) ranks second on the list of the best stocks to buy for 2026 according to Cathie Wood. ARK has a $640.5 million stake in the company, down 18% from the previous quarter. A total of 101 funds in Insider Monkey’s database had stakes in Shopify Inc (NASDAQ:SHOP) as of the end of the December quarter, up from 91 funds in the previous quarter.
Shopify Inc (NASDAQ:SHOP) is pivoting to AI quickly with AI-powered storefronts and integrations to boost efficiency and engagement. In the fourth quarter, its gross merchandise value jumped 31% year over year despite a weak consumer environment. For Q1, Shopify Inc (NASDAQ:SHOP) expects over 30% revenue growth. SHOP bulls believe the company stands to benefit from the rise of agentic commerce, as the demand for AI-powered ecommerce solutions would increase in the future.
Patient Opportunity Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Shopify Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOP) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Shopify Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOP) is a cloud-based software provider for multi-channel commerce. Shares rose 8.3% in the fourth quarter, finishing 2025 up 51.1% on strong financial results that outperformed Street expectations. The company is demonstrating rapid growth at scale with gross merchandise value (GMV) and revenues each growing over 30% year-on-year. Business fundamentals are strong across geographies, customer types, verticals, channels, and commerce categories. In the third quarter, Shopify grew international GMV by 41%, offline by 31%, and B2B by 98% (all year-over-year). They signed Estee Lauder for Shopify Plus, a significant win for their enterprise strategy, which provides further evidence of the scalability of their platform. The company continues to make progress on its vertical total addressable market (TAM) expansion as well by deepening the solutions it offers merchants including ongoing success with their accelerated checkout (Shop Pay), growing adoption of Shopify payments, expansion of Shopify Capital, and other newer solutions such as their advertising solution, Shopify Campaigns, which is off to a strong start, with a 9 times increase in budget commitments from merchants year-over year. Shopify has also emerged as a leading enabler in the nascent AI-commerce category (shopping within Large Language Models (LLMs) chat-bots such as ChatGPT). We continue to own the stock and believe Shopify is a rare platform business that has many call options on future growth verticals, as the company’s culture and merchant obsession drives rapid product innovation, helping sustain growth for years to come.”
