Shares in Amazon (AMZN) stock are expected to gain or lose 6% by Thursday’s Q3 earnings report, according to some Wall Street analysts. Amazon stock is currently trading at $229, but is poised for stronger market momentum in the near future. Amazon has now become a leading retail giant, with a valuation of $ 2.6 billion. The e-commerce powerhouse has lately been reporting a stellar hike in sales, with data from Q2 revealing a hike of 13% in sales, reaching $167B. The company has lately been experimenting with AI and robotics to reduce operational costs, which could affect the company’s upcoming earnings report.
Based on options pricing ahead of the Q3 earnings report, traders are expecting a 6.74% move in either direction for AMZN, following the results. This is much higher than Amazon’s long-term average post-earnings move of -0.75%, which reflects a modest decline. The sudden volatility likely comes due to uncertainty about just how much AI will affect the company, its workforce, and workload focus.
In the upcoming earnings report, there are several things to focus on that could play a role in which way Amazon (AMZN) shares swing. For starters, AWS has been crucial to Amazon’s recent success, as well as a focus point behind AMZN’s recent AI investments. While cloud revenue growth has slowed, Amazon’s AI infrastructure push, including $75 billion in capital spending for FY25, might have provided support.
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Additionally, Amazon’s e-commerce business is the mainstay reason behind the company’s success in the past decade-plus. Should revenue from sales continue to climb, especially after the latest Prime Day event, AMZN shares will likely balloon. Furthermore, Amazon’s ad business was a bright spot in Q2, posting strong year-over-year growth. Continued strength in this unit could help AMZN shares rise to that 6% forecast. Alternatively, if any of these three factors show a loss, shares could dip 6% in the opposite direction.
Therefore, it is hard to pinpoint an accurate price forecast for AMZN stock before tomorrow’s earnings. While some investors may opt to hold onto shares until after tomorrow’s bell, others may opt to sell stock now and cash in on the 22% stock climb in the past six months. On Wall Street, analysts are bullish on Amazon, with most price targets above the current $228 market price, despite differing opinions on stock direction. Analysts like Wedbush and Cantor Fitzgerald have high price target accuracy scores, suggesting confidence in their forecasts. Wedbush rates Amazon as “Outperform” with a $280 target, while Rosenblatt offers a higher $297 target.
