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Why Analysts Are Cautiously Optimistic About Amazon After Earnings
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Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) released third-quarter financial results after markets closed Thursday. While the report missed the mark, it didn’t seem like analysts had much, if anything, bad to say about the stock. Still, most analysts were cautiously optimistic, and even though they are still calling to buy the stock, targets were trimmed.
24/7 Wall St. has included some highlights from the earnings report, as well as what analysts said after the fact.
The e-commerce empire said that it had $4.23 in earnings per share (EPS) and $69.98 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates that called for $4.62 in EPS and $68.81 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had $5.75 in EPS and $56.58 billion in revenue.
During the most recent quarter, Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenues increased 34.7% to $8.995 billion, up from $6.68 billion in the same period of last year, with operating income of $2.26 billion.
In terms of its other segments, Amazon reported:
- North American net sales increased 24% to $42.64 billion, with operating income of $1.28 billion.
- International sales increased 18% to $18.35 billion, with an operating loss of $386 million.
As for guidance, the company expects to see net sales in the range of $80.0 billion to $86.5 billion, with operating income of $1.2 billion to $2.9 billion, in the fourth quarter. The consensus estimates call for $6.49 in EPS on $87.37 billion in revenue for the quarter.
Here’s what analysts had to say:
- JPMorgan reiterated a Buy rating.
- SunTrust reiterated a Buy rating with a $2,350 price target.
- RBC reiterated an Outperform rating with a $2,500 price target.
- Oppenheimer reiterated it as Outperform but lowered its target from $2,040 to $2,100.
- BMO Capital Markets reiterated an Outperform rating with a $2,000 target price.
- Wedbush reiterated it as Outperform but lowered its target to $2,000 from $2,350.
- Credit Suisse reiterated an Outperform rating but lowered its target from $2,400 to $2,100.
- Mizuho reiterated a Buy rating and raised its target price to $2,200 from $2,150.
- Barclays reiterated a Buy rating but lowered its price target to $2,000 from $2,180.
- Piper Jaffray reiterated it at Overweight but lowered its target to $2,225 from $2,150.
- DZ Bank reiterated a Buy rating.
Shares of Amazon traded down about 1% to $1,760.81 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $1,307.00 to $2,035.80. The consensus price target is $2,297.69.
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