Ecommerce giant’s stock has rocketed 38% over the past four months
Shares of Amazon.com Inc. rallied Friday to the highest close in more than nine months, and ended June with a fourth-straight monthly gain.
The stock’s AMZN, +1.92% rally comes as investors gird for the ecommerce giant’s annual Prime Day sales event in mid-July.
J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth reiterated the overweight rating he’s had on the stock for at least the past three years, saying in a recent note to clients that he projects Amazon to get about a $5 billion revenue boost from next month’s Prime Day, or about 13% more than last year.
“Importantly, 2023 is tracking toward the fastest Prime delivery speeds ever, which we believe helps drive higher customer consideration and purchase frequency,” Anmuth wrote.
The stock rose 1.9% to $130.36 on Friday, the highest close since Sept. 9, 2022. It has soared 38.3% over the past four months, compared with a 12.1% rise in the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.23% over the same period.
That’s the longest monthly win streak for Amazon’s stock since the four-month stretch that ended January 2020, or before the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was also the stock’s best four-month performance since it shot up 39.5% in the four months through August 2020, boosted by the COVID-induced explosion in online shopping.
Analyst Youssef Squali at Truist also reiterated his buy rating on Amazon’s stock in a recent note to clients, as he sees the company’s “Buy with Prime” (BwP) offering as a “major enabler” of online retailers’ direct-to-consumer (DTC) offerings through Prime Day. The BwP offering allows third-party merchants on Amazon’s site to offer Prime services, such as seamless payment and free delivery.
“[W]e believe BwP is an offering tailor-suited for DTC companies and should enable Amazon to gain share of off-Amazon transactions,” Squali wrote. “By out estimate, BwP should unlock [approximately $10 billion] in revenue in the U.S. by 2026,” with growth from adoption by DTC players.
Amazon’s stock has rocketed 59.3% since it closed at a near four-year low of $81.82 on Dec. 28, 2022, which compares with a 17.6% rise in the S&P 500 over the same time. (Read about the technical significance of the low-$80s area for Amazon’s stock.)