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Amazon reported earnings on Thursday, handily beating Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom lines, giving the stock a bump up.And financial analysts, already bullish on Amazon, are taking it as a reassuring sign - the Amazon Web Services cloud service continues to drive tons of profits, and investors don't seem to be bothered that its growth rate is down, given that it's already so huge. And retail sales are showing solid growth, too, which is encouraging to Wall Street analysts.
Here's what the analysts are saying:
- Barclays reiterated its "Overweight" rating, setting a price target of $1,120. The firm says it has concerns about Amazon's retail margins moving forward, but remains optimistic overall. "Stepping back from the metrics, Amazon's business momentum is very strong and the stock remains a must-own for any consumer internet investor," writes the firm.
- UBS reiterated its "Buy" rating, setting a price target of $1,100 (up from $930). The firm is very bullish on Amazon and says in general, Amazon's big bets on media creation, the Indian market, and new frontiers in logistics are bearing fruit.
- Macquarie affirmed its "Outperform" rating and raised price target to $1,060. Like Barclays, Macquarie is worried about margins, but is still overall very positive on Amazon and all the markets it's investing in. "The company continues to have the high-class problem of having to prioritize investment opportunities," Macquarie writes.
- Jefferies reiterated its "Buy" rating, and raised its price targets from $975 to $1,150. Jefferies thinks that, regardless of margins or guidance, Amazon is still the best poised to conquer online shopping and cloud computing. "In our view, AMZN remains a core eCommerce holding, one of the best large-cap ideas in our coverage universe, with plenty of growth opportunities ahead."
- Cowen still ranks it an "outperform," raising the target from $1,050 to $1,100 as the growth of its core businesses continues apace.
- Baird reiterated its "outperform," as well, raising the price target from $850 to $1,100, hailing Amazon's investment in logistics.
In short, the consensus seems to be that Amazon's investments in logistics and expanding its markets seems to be paying off - but the concern is over the dynamic between that growth and the overall margins of the business.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.