Amazon's Commitment to Sustainability with Electric Big Rigs

Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating on Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and maintained its $280 price target, highlighting the company's growing dominance in the digital advertising space.

Amazon is steadily gaining momentum with advertisers, thanks to its unmatched retail infrastructure, extensive customer data, and powerful merchandising tools. The firm noted that recent upgrades to Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP) have made it a more formidable competitor, particularly in comparison to key players like The Trade Desk.

Another key development is the ad-supported rollout of Prime Video, which has opened up a new stream of revenue. Over the past year, this move has successfully attracted advertising dollars—not only from other digital platforms but also from traditional linear TV budgets—thanks to Amazon’s reach, targeting precision, and wealth of first-party consumer data.

Wedbush believes these advancements solidify Amazon’s position as a top-tier player in digital advertising, with substantial room for further growth. The firm sees the advertising segment as a strategic engine of margin expansion and a core component of Amazon’s broader monetization strategy.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a global e-commerce and technology giant, known for its vast online marketplace, cloud computing services, and digital streaming offerings. The company competes with other major players like Walmart in retail and Microsoft in cloud services. On March 3, 2025, Benchmark maintained its "Buy" grade for AMZN, with the action being "hold," and the stock price was $208.15.

Amazon's investment in the AI sector is noteworthy, as highlighted by CNBC. The company-backed AI firm, Anthropic, recently achieved a valuation of $61.5 billion after a $3.5 billion funding round. This round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and included investors like Salesforce Ventures and Cisco Investments. Anthropic's AI chatbot, Claude, launched in March 2023, is gaining traction in sales and customer service.

Amazon's Prime membership has reached a record 250 million subscribers globally, despite a $20 increase in annual fees in early 2024. This growth is driven by the value offered through Prime Video, faster shipping, and exclusive deals. The price hike had minimal impact on retention, showcasing strong customer loyalty.

Despite these positive developments, Amazon's stock experienced a slight decline, down 0.6% in early trading, priced at $211.08. The stock is currently trading at $207.85, reflecting a decrease of 2.09% with a $4.43 drop. The stock has fluctuated between $206.69 and $214.01 during the day, with a market cap of approximately $2.2 trillion.

Amazon's stock has seen a high of $242.52 and a low of $151.61 over the past year. The company's trading volume stands at 21.8 million shares. Despite the recent dip, Benchmark's "Buy" grade suggests confidence in Amazon's long-term growth potential, supported by its strategic investments and expanding Prime membership.

Cantor Fitzgerald analysts reiterated an Overweight rating on Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), maintaining a price target of $270 on the stock. The outlook highlights Amazon’s robust positioning among mega-cap names, with potential upside in key metrics for both the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is expected to play a pivotal role in the company’s performance, benefiting from accelerated growth in inference workloads driven by advancements in the large language model (LLM) AI layer. With a competitive infrastructure stack and deep customer relationships, AWS is poised to capture a significant share of this growing market, bolstering its growth trajectory in the cloud computing space.

In the retail segment, Amazon is set to capitalize on fixed-cost leverage, which is anticipated to contribute to margin expansion throughout 2025. According to the analysts, this improvement is likely to persist even as the company faces incremental expenses related to the Kuiper satellite initiative, showcasing the resilience of its core operations. Despite investor sentiment already reflecting a favorable near-term outlook, Amazon offers multiple growth catalysts in the coming year.

On November 19, 2024, Daniel P. Huttenlocher, a director at Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), sold 1,237 shares of the company's Common Stock at $199.06 per share. This transaction leaves him with 24,912 shares. Amazon, a global e-commerce and technology leader, faces competition from companies like Walmart and Alibaba. Despite challenges, Amazon remains a dominant force in the market.

Amazon is currently facing hurdles in enhancing Alexa with advanced AI features. The company has experienced delays in launching the new AI-powered version due to integration complexities with partners like Uber and Ticketmaster. These challenges highlight the intricate nature of developing cutting-edge technology, which is crucial for maintaining Amazon's competitive edge.

Despite these challenges, Amazon has announced it will not increase its merchant fulfillment and referral fees in 2025. As highlighted by PYMNTS, this decision comes despite inflation and significant investments in employee pay and benefits. Amazon attributes this to cost reductions achieved through innovation, efficiency, and defect reduction, benefiting sellers on its platform.

In addition to its e-commerce operations, Amazon is involved in innovative projects like SENSICALMATCH.AI™, a collaboration with Common Sense Networks and Deloitte. This platform, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), aims to enhance safe advertising for children. This initiative underscores Amazon's commitment to leveraging technology for safety and innovation.

Amazon's stock price is currently $204.61, reflecting a 1.44% increase. The stock has traded between $198.80 and $205.30 today, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.15 trillion. Over the past year, the stock has seen a high of $215.90 and a low of $141.50, with a trading volume of 30,846,395 shares on the NASDAQ.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported third-quarter earnings that exceeded analyst expectations, pushing its stock up over 7% intra-day today. The tech giant's performance was boosted by growth in artificial intelligence, particularly within its cloud division.

Amazon posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.43, beating the forecasted $1.14, and reported revenue of $158.9 billion, surpassing estimates of $157.25 billion and marking an 11% year-over-year increase.

CEO Andy Jassy highlighted "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunities emerging from generative AI, which has spurred an uptick in cloud demand as businesses ramp up investment in the necessary infrastructure. Amazon Web Services (AWS) saw a substantial lift, with sales jumping 19% to $27.5 billion. Jassy noted that AI-driven operations within AWS were experiencing "triple-digit" growth.

The surge in AI demand, however, has led Amazon to significantly boost capital expenditures on data centers and networking, with $75 billion planned for this year and even higher spending expected in 2024.

Amazon’s AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, expanded to additional markets, while new AI tools were rolled out for sellers and advertisers, enhancing the company’s offerings as it heads into the holiday season. North American sales rose 9% to $95.5 billion, with international sales up 12% to $35.9 billion. Amazon's operating margin reached a record 11%, with AWS margins hitting an all-time high of 38%.

For the fourth quarter, Amazon projected revenue between $181.5 billion and $188.5 billion, just below the midpoint of Wall Street analysts' $186.36 billion estimate. The company forecasted Q4 operating income between $16.0 billion and $20.0 billion.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares fell nearly 3% intra-day today after Wells Fargo analysts downgraded the company to Equal Weight from Overweight, lowering their price target to $183 from $225. The analysts pointed to several near-term pressures that could impact Amazon's operating income, including continued investment in Project Kuiper, anticipated challenges in Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) fees, and a slowdown in advertising operating income growth.

The analysts adjusted Amazon’s operating income estimates downward by $5.4 billion, $4.5 billion, and $5.5 billion for 2025, 2026, and 2027, respectively, reflecting reductions of 7%, 5%, and 5%. They noted that while the market is bracing for fourth-quarter margin impacts, first-half 2025 margin expansion may also be limited. The analysts remain cautious until visibility around Amazon’s margin expansion improves.

They highlighted growing competition from Walmart, whose expanding fulfillment services and competitive pricing in third-party merchant logistics could limit Amazon's FBA fee growth. Wells Fargo estimates Amazon’s FBA fee inflation may see a decline of around $2 billion annually if inflation remains closer to 2024 levels. Additionally, the analysts see merchant advertising growth slowing as it has already reached 6% of gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2024, up from 3.7% in 2020, with expectations for more modest growth going forward.

Amazon’s ad revenue may also face cost pressures from high-profile content rights, including anticipated NBA-related expenses in 2025.

JMP Securities analysts raised their price target for Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to $265, up from $245, while maintaining a Market Outperform rating on the stock.

The analysts highlighted Amazon's robust advertising capabilities, driven by its vertically integrated, full-stack advertising platform that spans from upper to lower funnel solutions. They emphasized that Amazon's Prime membership provides unmatched data and attribution capabilities, giving it a competitive edge in the advertising space.

JMP also noted that Amazon's connected TV (CTV) advertising has lower ad loads and costs compared to competitors. The analysts project that Prime Video will generate nearly $2 billion in revenue from advertising in 2024, with potential for further growth as ad load and cost-per-thousand impressions (CPMs) increase alongside viewing hours, bolstered by live sports licensing agreements.

Additionally, the analysts believe Amazon will eventually extend its ad-tech and data capabilities to the broader web, creating new revenue opportunities within its Advertising Services business.