How crazy was Shopify’s 2020? Well, a 192 per cent return – through Dec. 30 – sounds amazing enough.
But when you look at how much market capitalization the e-commerce giant added, Shopify’s stock performance for the year just ended is all the more astonishing.
Shopify blew past Royal Bank of Canada in early May to become Canada’s most valuable company. As 2020 closed, Shopify’s market capitalization was roughly $182 billion, versus RBC’s $149 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
canada’s most valuable company
Market cap, in billions of dollars, as of Dec. 30
$182
$149
$33
Shopify
RBC
Telus
Addition to 2020 market cap,
in billions of dollars, as of Dec. 30
Shopify
+$122
The other 221 companies
in the S&P/TSX Composite,
combined
+$28
Canadian National
Railway
+$15
tHE GLOBE AND MAIL
SOURCE: S&P Global Market Intelligence
canada’s most valuable company
Market cap, in billions of dollars, as of Dec. 30
$182
$149
$33
Shopify
RBC
Telus
Addition to 2020 market cap, in billions of dollars, as of Dec. 30
Shopify
+$122
The other 221 companies
in the S&P/TSX Composite,
combined
+$28
Canadian National
Railway
+$15
tHE GLOBE AND MAIL
SOURCE: S&P Global Market Intelligence
canada’s most valuable company
Market cap, in billions of dollars, as of Dec. 30
$182
$149
$33
Shopify
RBC
Telus
Addition to 2020 market cap, in billions of dollars, as of Dec. 30
Shopify
+$122
The other 221 companies
in the S&P/TSX Composite,
combined
+$28
Canadian National Railway
+$15
tHE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: S&P Global Market Intelligence
The difference of nearly $33 billion is bigger than the market value of all but 20 other companies in Canada. Big names with a capitalization of about $33 billion include Suncor Energy Inc., Sun Life Financial Inc. and Telus Corp. Over the course of 2020, Shopify added $122 billion to its market capitalization.
Aside from it and RBC, only Toronto-Dominion Bank has $100 billion in market value. (Canadian National Railway Co. was right around the $100 billion mark as the year ended.) The other 221 companies in the S&P/TSX Composite, combined, added just $28 billion in market cap this year (including both the gainers and the losers, of which there were many). Only CN and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. managed to add more than $10 billion in market cap this year.
Put another way, the $122 billion Shopify added in 2020 is more than the $112 billion worth of BCE Inc., Telus and Rogers Communications Inc. combined.