Zacks Research Upgrades Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to Strong-Buy

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $318.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Amazon.com from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $319.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $322.56.

Amazon.com Price Performance

AMZN stock opened at $272.65 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $246.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $236.97. Amazon.com has a 52-week low of $196.00 and a 52-week high of $287.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $3.93. The business had revenue of $200.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.03 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 17.44% and a return on equity of 18.00%. The business’s revenue was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Amazon.com will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total value of $4,074,007.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,729,480.60. This represents a 52.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.53, for a total transaction of $2,489,273.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 41,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,060,750.70. This trade represents a 18.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 77,867 shares of company stock valued at $20,532,092 in the last quarter. 8.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,687,000. SFE Investment Counsel acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter valued at about $19,383,000. Alesco Advisors LLC An ESL Co purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the second quarter worth approximately $5,100,000. Bank Hapoalim BM purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the second quarter worth approximately $20,761,000. Finally, BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the second quarter worth approximately $12,854,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AWS and AI demand remain the main bullish catalysts. Amazon is raising its 2026 capital-expenditure forecast to approximately $220 billion, reflecting strong demand for data-center capacity and higher memory-chip prices. AWS management has indicated that much of its capacity is committed through 2028, supporting expectations for continued cloud growth and AI-related revenue. Amazon’s 2026 Capital Expenditures
• Positive Sentiment: Zoox is approaching commercial operations. Amazon’s autonomous-vehicle unit plans to begin paid robotaxi rides in Las Vegas on August 10, following federal approval for driverless vehicles. The rollout provides a potential long-term growth avenue outside e-commerce, advertising and AWS. Zoox Paid Robotaxi Launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings remain exceptionally strong, but reported profit included a sizable investment gain. Amazon posted $200.6 billion in quarterly revenue, up 19.6% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $5.75 per share versus a $1.82 consensus estimate. However, approximately $53.4 billion of net income came from largely non-operating gains tied to Anthropic investments, making underlying profitability more difficult to assess.
• Negative Sentiment: Spending and margin concerns are resurfacing. Higher memory costs and the $220 billion capex plan could pressure free cash flow and raise questions about the returns on Amazon’s AI infrastructure investment. The spending increase also benefited suppliers such as memory-chip and data-center equipment companies, highlighting the scale of Amazon’s costs.
• Negative Sentiment: Share-supply and analyst concerns are adding pressure. Founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell roughly 15 million AMZN shares worth about $4.1 billion under a pre-arranged plan. CEO Douglas Herrington separately sold 1,000 shares under a Rule 10b5-1 plan. Phillip Securities downgraded Amazon to “Moderate Buy,” contributing to profit-taking after the stock’s recent advance. Amazon CEO Share Sale
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risks persist. New Jersey sued Amazon over alleged anticompetitive treatment of delivery contractors, while an appeals court allowed Perplexity’s AI shopping agents to access Amazon’s platform, potentially challenging control of the company’s marketplace.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.