Shopify Inc. surged past Royal Bank of Canada to become the largest publicly traded Canadian company after another impressive rally on Wednesday. But can the Ottawa-based retail software giant break the curse of predecessors that have risen to the top of the Toronto Stock Exchange only to nosedive soon after?
It may be hard to envision any slip-ups right now: The shares have surged more than 4,100 per cent since the company’s initial public offering in 2015, making the stock a spectacular success story.
Shopify’s market capitalization – or the value of its outstanding shares – is now an astounding $121.2-billion after Wednesday’s 6.9-per-cent gain in late afternoon trading. That’s ahead of the $120.5-billion market cap for RBC, whose share price is languishing at 2016 levels.
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Shopify tops RBC as Canada’s most valuable company
Market watchers have seen hot stocks overtake RBC before, though, and it hasn’t ended well.
Indeed, stocks that have pushed the financial giant from …