Amazon stock took off again after the new year, soaring higher and higher as it approached the $850 mark, but it just couldn’t make it over the hump. Now as Wall Street begins to look ahead to the company’s earnings report, at least one firm trimmed its price target, while one investors forecasts a new record high, possibly even before that report.
Today investors seem cheered by the announcement that the online retailer is preparing to add thousands of jobs; after all, it wouldn’t hire so many people if business isn’t going so well, right?
Amazon stock target to $950
In a research note dated Jan. 11, Credit Suisse analysts Stephen Ju and Christopher Ford reiterated their Outperform rating and said they trimmed their price target for Amazon stock from $1,000 to $950 per share. They believe Prime Video to be the new “beachhead product” because the company launched it as a standalone subscription before launching e-commerce operations in some international markets.
Other firms have noted in the past that some international subscribers seem drawn more by the video part of the Amazon Prime subscription than by the free shipping. As a result, it makes sense for the online retailer to lead with video in overseas markets.
The Credit Suisse team points out that investors should already be well aware of Amazon’s practice of investing and then growing into its bigger infrastructure. They add that such investments should be positive indicators for demand.
Additionally, they believe the capital intensity needed to run Amazon Web Services is starting to level off. They believe that the usage rates have fallen under 100%, which should enable a flattening out of capital expenditures and expanded free cash flow.
Amazon to add 100,000 jobs
The latest investment is in thousands of U.S. workers, as the company said today that it plans to hire more than 100,000 more workers spanning across segments. The company said in a press release that it will be looking for everything from software developers to warehouse workers. It expects to boost its full-time domestic workforce to more than 280,000 — a more than 50% increase — over the next year and a half.
Amazon continues to invest in more warehouses, expanding its infrastructure rapidly so that when it needs the space, it already has it. The online retailer said late last year that it planned to add 26 more warehouses last year, and apparently more are currently being built. Amazon already has a patent for a flying warehouse, so it’s clearly looking way down the line there. But one day, we could see an Amazon airship hovering in the sky over a sports stadium.
Shares of Amazon stock rose by as much as 1.11% to $807.80 during regular trading hours on Thursday.
