Bank of America revives coverage of Shopify with a Buy rating, citing agentic commerce prospects

Shopify shares rose after Bank of America reinstated coverage of the company with a Buy rating and set a $150 price objective, according to a market report published July 7. The brokerage’s decision ties the bullish stance to what it described as an emerging shift toward “agentic commerce,” a concept that frames AI systems as active agents that can carry out shopping-related tasks rather than simply recommend products.

The report said Bank of America’s view is that Shopify is positioned to capture value as commerce workflows evolve. Agentic commerce is typically discussed as a step beyond standard AI recommendations, with systems able to interpret goals, search for items, and help complete purchases or customer-service interactions with less manual effort from merchants and shoppers.

As the note circulated, Shopify’s stock reaction suggested investors were looking for incremental upside cues, even though the market report itself did not detail new Shopify product launches or specific customer contract wins. Instead, it focused on the rating and price target, and on how BofA connects Shopify’s platform to the next phase of AI-enabled commerce.

The report also characterized the move as a reinstatement of coverage rather than a routine reiteration, implying that Bank of America had previously been absent from Shopify’s analyst coverage. Reinstatements can matter to traders and longer-term investors when they reintroduce a widely followed valuation framework and a new set of assumptions into the trading conversation.

Beyond the headline rating change, the publicly visible information in the market post did not provide additional operational or financial updates, such as changes to Shopify’s forecast, metrics, or segment-level performance. It also did not spell out which parts of Shopify’s ecosystem, such as merchant tools, payments, or customer-facing shopping experiences, Bank of America expects to see the earliest impact from agentic commerce.

The broader context is that many e-commerce and digital payments platforms are being evaluated on whether they can become “distribution rails” for AI features, not just sell software or processing. If AI agents require merchant connectivity, catalog access, checkout integration, and data feedback loops, platforms that already sit at the center of online stores could be viewed as natural beneficiaries.

That said, the market report did not provide enough detail to determine which specific agentic commerce use cases Bank of America was prioritizing, how quickly adoption might scale, or what it assumed about Shopify’s competitive positioning versus other commerce enablers. Without those details, investors would need to rely on later research notes, company disclosures, or further analyst commentary to understand the mechanics behind the $150 target.

For now, what to watch is whether Shopify elaborates on AI-related product capabilities, partnerships, or merchant tooling that could support agent-driven shopping and support workflows. Also, attention should shift back to how Wall Street tests the “agentic commerce” thesis in earnings calls and guidance updates rather than through analyst notes alone.