Shopify Inc. (SHOP:TSX) appeared to counteract fears that artificial intelligence poses a threat to the e-commerce service provider as its shares soared 28 per cent this week — a top 15 finish on the S&P/TSX Composite index — on “a clean Q2 beat,” TD Cowen analyst Todd Coupland said in a note on Aug. 5. “We would buy SHOP for durable profitable growth and agentic commerce optionality,” Coupland said. Revenue, gross merchandise value (which measures the total value of goods sold) free cash flow and gross profit each rose by more than 30 per cent in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago, with the trend expected to continue into the next quarter, Coupland said. He hiked his price target to $308 from $262. Shares closed Friday at $211.10. AI fears started to hound the stock earlier in the year, driving shares down as much as 44 per cent from early January to mid-May before they started to climb back up again as investors rethought concerns that AI would supply businesses with the tools needed to bypass Shopify. For J. Parker Lane, Stifel U.S. Equity Research managing director, Shopify earnings “validated two key pillars of our investment case,” including its pre-eminence in market share gains, which continue to outrun growth in the broader e-commerce sector, and its use of AI to build on its sector leadership. Lane hiked his price target for to $252 from $212. The 12-month price target for Shopify is $235.48 based on the calls of 50 analysts, according to Bloomberg.