Two High-Growth Consumer and E-Commerce Stocks to Watch in 2026

Shopify Inc. (SHOP): The E-Commerce Infrastructure Powerhouse

Shopify remains a cornerstone of the digital commerce ecosystem, enabling small and medium-sized businesses to build and scale online stores. Its platform model-combining SaaS, payment processing, and logistics tools-has proven highly scalable. According to ValueSense, Shopify's Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) of 73.4% and 30.3% revenue growth in 2025 underscore its ability to generate outsized returns while maintaining a conservative balance sheet (8.9% debt-to-equity ratio).

What sets Shopify apart is its adaptability to AI-driven trends. As stated by TripleWhale, AI shopping assistants are poised to become primary customer touchpoints, requiring platforms to optimize for algorithmic visibility and seamless integration. Shopify's recent investments in AI-powered analytics and personalized customer experiences position it to capture this shift. For instance, its Shopify AI suite already helps merchants automate inventory management and marketing, reducing operational friction.

With a Quality Rating of 7.8, the company's financial discipline and innovation pipeline make it a resilient long-term play.

GoDaddy Inc. (GDDY): A Contrarian Bet on Pricing Power

GoDaddy, long criticized for its reliance on legacy domain registration services, has emerged as a contrarian opportunity. Despite a 1-year return of -35.3%, its intrinsic value of $158.1 and 63.8% gross margin highlight its pricing power in a commoditized market. The company's core domain and hosting services remain in high demand, particularly as small businesses increasingly prioritize online presence.

However, GoDaddy's challenges are real: with -19.5% revenue growth and a debt-to-equity ratio of 87.9%, concerns about its capital structure arise. The key to unlocking value lies in its ability to transition from a transactional model to a recurring revenue engine. Recent forays into cloud infrastructure and developer tools suggest progress, but execution risks persist. For patient investors, GoDaddy's low valuation relative to its cash flow generation and market position in domain services could offer asymmetric upside if it successfully diversifies its offerings.

The Bigger Picture: AI and Consumer Behavior as Tailwinds

Both stocks benefit from broader macro trends. McKinsey's 2025 State of the Consumer report notes that over 90% of Chinese and U.S. consumers shopped at online-only retailers in the previous month, underscoring the shift toward convenience and digital-first experiences. Meanwhile, AI's integration into commerce-via chatbots, recommendation engines, and virtual assistants-is creating new revenue streams for platforms that prioritize developer-friendly tools and data-driven insights.

Conclusion

Shopify and GoDaddy represent two sides of the e-commerce coin: one a high-growth innovator with a fortress balance sheet, the other a value play with untapped pricing power. While Shopify's disruptive infrastructure model is a safer bet for long-term capital appreciation, GoDaddy's undervalued assets and market dominance in domain services warrant closer scrutiny for risk-tolerant investors. As AI redefines how consumers interact with brands, both companies will need to evolve-but their current trajectories suggest they are well-positioned to weather the next phase of digital transformation.