Shopify falls 9% after Q3 revenue and merchandise volume miss estimates

Shopify reported before the bell Tuesday and posted adjusted earnings of 49 cents per share, topping LSEG estimates of 46 cents per share.

Overall, quarterly revenue of $3.74 billion came in just below LSEG estimates of $3.75 billion. Shopify said it sees revenue growth in the "low thirties" range year over year for the fourth quarter, versus LSEG estimates of 32.1%.

Shopify president Harley Finkelstein called the GMV results "consistent" and "durable" in comments to CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Tuesday, and noted it was the thirteenth consecutive quarter of GMV growth above 20%.

"We're really proud of the print, and we're going to keep building for the long term and ignore the noise day to day," Finkelstein said.

Meta released its consumer-facing artificial intelligence agent Muse during the third quarter, and Shopify was an early partner. The partnership allows Muse to browse and purchase items on Shopify's platform within the Muse app and allows customers to check out with Shopify's payment service, Shop Pay.

Finkelstein addressed concerns about potential pricing pressure as AI agents negotiate prices and cost compare on behalf of users.

Instead, Finkelstein said AI agents are driving new traffic to Shopify's business and are helping consumers find new brands and products. "Brands like the Tin Can phone, a screenless phone for kids, are seeing incredible success because of agentic-based commerce, where a consumer is being very specific and using very merit-based results and using Shopify catalog. It is presenting these great products to consumers that there's no way they would have found otherwise."

Finkelstein acknowledged some economic pressure on consumers heading into the holiday season, but said businesses are optimistic and agentic shopping could have a breakthrough moment.

"I do think this is the first holiday season where AI-assisted shopping capabilities will become mainstream, especially with the rise of personal agents," he said.