Shares in the pet-products e-retailer co-founded by Ryan Cohen, a Canadian investor who helped drive the Gamestop meme-stock frenzy, jumped more than 27 per cent in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange after the U.S.-based firm said it would start operating in Canada next quarter. (Reuters)

Talking point: The retailer also said it will invest more in automation centres and advertising to offset cooling demand after a COVID-19 bump. Wells Fargo analysts estimated the Canadian expansion would grow Chewy’s addressable market by US$12 billion to US$15 billion. But Morningstar analyst Sean Dunlop pegged the Canadian market in a note at a “relatively small” US$6 billion, based on Euromonitor data and Morningstar’s own calculations. Still, he wrote, “international expansion remains an important part of Chewy’s long-term growth narrative,” and analysts will watch its first international expansion closely.