Amazon Stock: My Prime AI Investment (NASDAQ:AMZN)

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Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is having a fantastic year, skyrocketing by 63% since its capitulation-style multi-year low in early 2023. While I’ve owned some Amazon stock over the years, I accumulated a significant traunch in my latest buy-in, around $89-$99 in late 2022 (average purchase price about $92). The stock has surged, achieving 60% gains since the year started. Additionally, due to the significant accumulation around the lows, Amazon is one of my most extensive portfolio holdings, accounting for 4.5% of the AWP’s total weight.
Amazon: 1-Year Highly Bullish
However, despite this stellar performance, I have yet to sell a single Amazon share and don’t plan to anytime soon. Amazon is a long-term investment. The company got sold off to incredibly cheap levels during the tech panic. Yet, Amazon has many things investors should be excited about. Additionally, Amazon could be the primary beneficiary of AI in the e-commerce segment.
Technically – The chart is highly bullish, with a likely long-term bottom formed around the $80-$90 range. Then we see a bullish inverse head and shoulders, followed by a golden cross as the 50-day MA moves above the 200-day MA. The stock is also trading nicely alongside the 50-day MA, and the overall technical image is very constructive, with substantial long-term momentum on Amazon’s side.
Fundamentally – Amazon’s revenue growth could expand more substantially than anticipated, and Amazon can deliver considerably higher profitability as we advance. Its latest earnings announcement illustrated high-level performance with top and bottom line beats, suggesting Amazon’s recovery may be taking off faster than expected. Despite Amazon’s seemingly high P/E ratio, the company can provide significant EPS growth in future years. Therefore, Amazon deserves its premium multiple, and its stock price should move much higher in the coming years.
Amazon – Significant AI Potential
Amazon offers various AI-related opportunities, including solutions through its AWS unit, the largest cloud service globally. Machine learning on AWS enables users to get deeper insight from their data while lowering costs. Moreover, Amazon provides the most comprehensive set of AI and ML services, infrastructure, and implementation resources.
AWS has more than 100,000 customers with more than 20 years of proven experience. Many existing customers will likely choose to build with a proven leader they have had a trusted relationship with for a long time. Therefore, many AWS users should get funneled into Amazon’s AI ecosystem, and we see many other promising AI initiatives. Amazon is a technology leader with bottomless pockets, still focused on innovation and growth. AI should incorporate very nicely with Amazon’s businesses, and the company should benefit considerably from AI.
Recent Earnings – Out of the Park
Amazon hit a home run in its latest earnings report, emphasizing that the recent slowdown was transitory. As we move forward, Amazon should return to more significant revenue growth and better-than-anticipated profitability, leading to higher EPS growth and a much higher stock price.
Amazon’s Q2 EPS reached $0.65, crushing the $0.34 consensus estimate. Revenue came in at $134.3B, beating the consensus estimate by roughly $3B, illustrating a much stronger-than-expected 11% YoY gain. Given the much stronger-than-expected revenues in a challenging economic phase, Amazon’s growth should remain robust and may accelerate. AWS segment sales showed a positive 12% YoY increase, illustrating the significant growth potential in Amazon’s massive cloud space.
Furthermore, Amazon is no stranger to beating EPS and revenue estimates. Despite the challenging economic phase, Amazon has delivered substantial outperformance in many prior quarters, including EPS of $1.27 vs. the expected $0.94 TTM. This dynamic illustrates a 35% EPS beat rate in the last twelve months of operations.
Therefore, Amazon’s forward EPS and revenue estimates could get revised higher in the coming quarters, enabling the premium multiple to persist and leading to a much higher stock price in the long term.
Amazon’s EPS – Could Explode Higher Again
EPS estimates (SeekingAlpha.com )
Consensus estimates imply Amazon should earn about $2.40 in EPS in the next 12 months. However, Amazon’s EPS results could exceed downbeat consensus estimates due to the recent, intermediate, and long-term EPS trends. While we witnessed a 35% beat rate in the last twelve months, factoring in a beat rate of just 20% for the next year provides us an EPS of $2.88. Moreover, Amazon can achieve $3 in EPS in a slightly more bullish case scenario. Also, applying a similar 20-30% EPS beat rate to the depressed 2024 consensus estimate brings Amazon’s EPS closer to $4 (higher-end estimate range).
Bottom Line: Expectations Too Low For Amazon
EPS estimates (SeekingAlpha.com )
While the consensus EPS estimate is only around $3 for next year, Amazon can do much better. If the company achieves a similar beat rate as recently, EPS should come in around $4 or higher in 2024 (toward the higher end of the estimate range). Therefore, Amazon could be trading at about a 30-forward P/E multiple, which is relatively inexpensive for Amazon’s shares.
Moreover, Amazon can beat the $4 EPS next year and may produce better-than-expected EPS growth in the years ahead. Instead of the consensus projected $4-$5 in EPS in 2025, Amazon could achieve $6-$7 due to its economies of scale capabilities, monopolistic-style advantages, AWS, and AI prospects. Moreover, Amazon and its diverse business segments should benefit significantly from the upcoming economic rebound, lower interest rates, increased consumer/enterprise spending, and other positive market elements.
Where the Stock Could Go in Future Years
Year | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
Revenue Bs |
$655 |
$755 | $853 | $964 | $1080 | $1198 | $1318 |
Revenue growth | 15% | 15% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 11% | 10% |
EPS | $4.25 | $6.50 | $8.25 | $10.32 | $12.70 | $15.50 | $18.60 |
EPS growth | 80% | 53% | 27% | 25% | 23% | 22% | 20% |
Forward P/E | 35 | 37 | 36 | 35 | 33 | 31 | 29 |
Price | $228 | $305 | $372 | $444 | $512 | $577 | $650 |
Source: The Financial Prophet
I’ve been very bullish on Amazon since the lows and continue to see much more upside potential in the long run. While I had a $315 price target for 2026, we can achieve it sooner. Due to Amazon’s improving growth and earnings dynamic, I have a $300-$450 price target on its stock for the next 2-3 years.
Risks to Amazon
Despite my bullish outlook, Amazon faces some risks. The company often focuses most of its resources on growth. Thus its profitability growth may be slower than expected in a worst case scenario. Also, we could see lower growth than projected in my analysis as Amazon could run into regulatory issues, economic slowdown concerns, and other variables capable of impacting its business negatively in the long run. Please consider these and other risks before committing capital to an investment in Amazon stock.