Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Climb 5% – Still a Buy?

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s share price traded up 5% on Monday. The stock traded as high as $263.72 and last traded at $262.45. 54,638,766 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 18% from the average session volume of 46,284,664 shares. The stock had previously closed at $250.00.

Key Stories Impacting Amazon.com

Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley named Amazon a top pick and raised its price target to $350 from $335. The firm cited an “under-appreciated” AWS growth runway, forecasting AWS growth of 47% in 2027 versus its previous 41% estimate. It also highlighted potential catalysts from generative and agentic AI, advertising, robotics, and automated fulfillment. Amazon stock pops after Morgan Stanley details 5 catalysts, lifts price target
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon, American Electric Power, and X-energy announced plans to evaluate a 960-megawatt Indiana nuclear plant using 12 small modular reactors. Amazon would fund development and purchase the facility’s power under a long-term agreement, supporting its rapidly expanding data-center energy needs. The companies are also targeting at least 5 gigawatts of new X-energy nuclear capacity by 2039. Amazon to fund 12 small nuclear reactors at former Indiana coal plant
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon introduced a public beta of TorchNeuron, designed to let developers run existing PyTorch code on its Trainium AI chips with minimal changes. If adoption matches early customer claims of lower costs, the software could improve Trainium utilization, reduce dependence on Nvidia hardware, and strengthen AWS’s AI infrastructure offering. Amazon says its AI chips will work with popular coding language challenging Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: Attention is increasingly focused on Amazon’s October 29 quarterly report. AWS recently delivered its fastest growth in 18 quarters, but investors will also assess whether heavy AI infrastructure spending can translate into revenue, margins, and sustainable free cash flow.
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon’s planned roughly $220 billion in capital expenditures, rising debt, and recently negative free cash flow remain significant execution risks. Delays in bringing AI data-center capacity online could also limit near-term returns on the investment. Amazon’s AI data-center spending challenges

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AMZN. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Mizuho set a $330.00 target price on Amazon.com and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Fifty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $322.40.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $256.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $251.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $3.93. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 17.44%. The firm had revenue of $200.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. Amazon.com’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Douglas Herrington sold 6,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total transaction of $1,647,821.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $123,465,145.81. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Brian Olsavsky sold 6,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.31, for a total transaction of $1,606,633.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,427,674.17. This trade represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 71,589 shares of company stock worth $18,580,515. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Trust Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 107,563 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 3,414 shares in the last quarter. TOP Private Wealth LLC. purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Atomic Invest LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 41.2% in the second quarter. Atomic Invest LLC now owns 168 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com Company Profile

Amazon.com, Inc is a global technology and e-commerce company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. Originally launched as an online bookstore, the company has expanded into a broad digital marketplace offering consumer products across numerous categories, including electronics, household goods, apparel, groceries and other merchandise. Amazon also sells products under its own brands and provides logistics, fulfillment and delivery services that support its retail operations and third-party sellers.

The company’s principal businesses include online and physical retail, Amazon Web Services (AWS), digital advertising, subscription services and consumer technology.