Why Shopify's Shares Tumbled 14% in October

Shares of Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) fell by 14.6% last month, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, after the company got slammed by a Citron Research report by short-seller Andrew Left.

Citron Research released a scathing report against Shopify at the beginning of October accusing the company of not properly reporting the compensation it pays to its 13,000 "partners," which are affiliates paid to promote Shopify's platform. Citron says that some of these partners are violating Federal Trade Commission (FTC) laws by overpromising how successful businesses will be when they use Shopify's online platform.

Citron also questions Shopify's addressable market and how it reports its customer numbers. "Out of the claimed 500,000 websites, Shopify has about 2,500 "Plus" clients and maybe another 20,000 "Advanced." So where are the other 450,000 + websites????" the report said.

Source: Fool.com