Over 100% return in two months: Is Wix making a comeback?

Two months ago, Wix stock was trading at a nearly decade-long low, just over $40, but since then, in a short time, the stock has managed to recover and more than double its price. At the end of the week, it closed at a price of over $82, reflecting a market capitalization of about $3.4 billion for the internet company. Despite the rise from the low, Wix has not yet returned to the price at which it bought back its own shares earlier this year (spending over $1.6 billion to acquire over 30% of its shares at $92 per share).

Wix, managed by Avishai Abrahami, allows users to build and manage websites, and last year it acquired Base44, which operates in the field of Vibe Coding, meaning it allows for the creation of digital works using natural language without code. Base44 has since become Wix's main growth engine.

Did the "apocalypse" turn into a pleasant surprise?

Wix was one of the stocks that suffered particularly from what was defined as the "SaaS apocalypse" (fears of damage to the business model of software companies following the development of AI), and its stock fell sharply. A few months ago, the company embarked on a significant round of layoffs, cutting 20% of its employees, about a thousand people.

CEO Abrahami attributed this to the strengthening of the shekel, which negatively affected the company, most of whose employees are in Israel, and to the rapid development of AI, which is changing the way technology companies operate. Therefore, according to him, the company is required to become a faster, leaner, and flatter company to remain competitive.

A few weeks after the layoffs, Wix lowered its annual revenue forecast, updating that revenue growth would be in the low double digits rather than around 15% as previously expected. The announcement led to a decline in the stock, and to that same June low, but subsequently, it seems it found the bottom and started to climb.

At the beginning of this month, the company published reports in which it beat analysts' forecasts, growing revenue by 14.9% to $563 million. Provisions related to future additional payments for Base44, along with expenses related to the layoffs, pushed Wix to a net loss of $76.4 million according to GAAP, but on a Non-GAAP basis, it earned more than the market expected, $68.2 million.

The entrepreneur behind the turnaround

Behind this positive surprise is mainly one entrepreneur — Maor Shlomo, founder and manager of Base44, which continues to amaze investors. With the publication of the reports, the company noted that they will continue to invest in marketing and sales expenses for Base44 to continue and increase market share, and said that in the second half of 2026, the gross profitability (Non-GAAP) of Base44 will be about 60%, compared to 0% at the beginning of the year — which will positively affect the company's results as a whole.

Last week, Maor Shlomo wrote that the company reached an ARR (annual recurring revenue) of $200 million, 5 months after reaching $100 million. At the time of the acquisition in June 2025, Base44's ARR was estimated at a few million dollars. Subsequently, there was also a report on the launch of AI agents for organizations.

So is Wix making a comeback? According to the Wall Street Journal, out of 24 analysts covering Wix, there are 11 positive and only one negative. And their average target price is 5% lower than the price on Nasdaq. However, most analysts published their recommendations on the eve of the stock jump, so it is possible they did not have time to update their forecasts.