Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares are up nearly 2% in pre-market trading Friday, after the retail web giant reported second-quarter results, which exceeded expectations. Amazon reported revenue of $30.4B , exceeding consensus estimates of $29.5B. Gross margin of 36.9% also exceeded consensus of 36.2%, helping to drive CSOI of $2.11B.
In reaction, Cantor analyst Youssef Squali raised the price target for the stock to $835 (from $800), while maintaining a Buy rating on the stock.
Squali commented, “Accelerating revenue growth and expanding margins show the effect of Amazon’s powerful flywheel of Prime and FBA driving higher velocity of orders, supported by an optimized delivery platform at scale. While ST profitability has been a thorny topic, growth and margin trends in the last six quarters show that Amazon is reaping the benefits of heavy investments, while showing material scale leverage. That said, we see further investments in FCs, video content and India in 2H16, which are likely to keep margins in check ST.”
“We’re revising our FY:16 estimates to $136.0B in revenue, $5.45 in EPS and $15.15B in EBITDA vs. $133.14B, $5.43 and $15.05B, previously,” the analyst added.
According to TipRanks.com, which measures analysts’ and bloggers’ success rate based on how their calls perform, analyst Youssef Squali has a yearly average return of 14.3% and a 68% success rate. Squali has a 27.5% average return when recommending AMZN, and is ranked #8 out of 4087 analysts.
Out of the 45 analysts polled by TipRanks, 40 rate Amazon stock a Buy, while 5 rate the stock a Hold. With a return potential of 8.2%, the stock’s consensus target price stands at $814.49.
