Shares of Amazon.com Inc
Amazon's results came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways from the release.
Needham On Amazon
Analyst Laura Martin maintained a Buy rating, while raising the price target from $175 to $205.
Amazon reported strong fourth-quarter results, with 14% year-on-year sales growth and 51% EBITDA growth, Martin said in a note. Operating margins expanded in the quarter, with improvement in North America, she added.
GenAI was a focus during the earnings call, the analyst stated, adding that Amazon is building several GenAI apps across its businesses.
Telsey Advisory Group On Amazon
Analyst Joseph Feldman reiterated an Outperform rating, while lifting the price target from $185 to $200.
Amazon ended a strong year with robust fourth-quarter results, and provided better-than-anticipated guidance for the first quarter, Feldman said.
"The growth in sales and profits was driven by strength across the board, including record Prime Big Deals Days in October, record sales during Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the regionalization of fulfillment (increased delivery speed and lowered the cost to serve), strong advertising sales (up 27%), increased AWS services (including strong demand for generative AI functionality), and cost optimization," the analyst added.
Wedbush On Amazon
Analyst Scott Devitt reaffirmed an Outperform rating, while raising the price target from $210 to $220.
Amazon's operating margins expanded for the fourth consecutive quarter, "driven by fulfillment efficiencies, ongoing cost discipline across segments, and continued mix shift to high-margin advertising and AWS revenue," Devitt wrote in a note.
"The magnitude of operating profit growth in 4Q further validates the strength of Amazon's underlying margin trajectory, and we see a clear path ahead to ~10% operating margin in 2025," he added.
Oppenheimer On Amazon
Analyst Jason Helfstein maintained an Outperform rating, while raising the price target from $200 to $210.
While ecommerce margins benefited from "lower cost-to-serve, down y/y for first time since '18," and stabilization in AWS, Helfstein said. Amazon's EBIT and margins improved better than expected in the quarter, he added.
"Guiding 1Q revenue 2%/1% below Opco/Street, but guiding 1Q EBIT 2%/5% above-22bps/39bps better margins," the analyst further wrote.
Truist Securities On Amazon
Analyst Youssef Squali reiterated an Outperform rating, while lifting the price target from $180 to $195.
Amazon delivered "another impressive beat" in the fourth quarter, reflecting continued market share gains in North America's ecommerce and digital ad markets, Squali said. He noted that the company also achieved record operating income of $13.2 billion, while driving "greater operational efficiencies."
"Importantly, AWS' growth is gradually accelerating as customers shift from Cloud cost optimization to new AI workload deployments," the analyst added.
AMZN Price Action: Shares of Amazon had risen by 7.08% to $170.56 at the time of publication on Friday.
