Erste Group Bank Expects Increased Earnings for Amazon.com
by Michael Walen · The Markets DailyAmazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report) – Stock analysts at Erste Group Bank raised their FY2026 earnings estimates for shares of Amazon.com in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank analyst S. Lingnau now forecasts that the e-commerce giant will post earnings of $7.76 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $7.74. The consensus estimate for Amazon.com’s current full-year earnings is $6.31 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Amazon.com’s FY2027 earnings at $9.42 EPS.
A number of other research firms also recently commented on AMZN. New Street Research cut their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-three have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.39.
Get Our Latest Analysis on AMZN
Amazon.com Trading Up 3.5%
NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $221.25 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Amazon.com has a 12 month low of $165.29 and a 12 month high of $258.60. The company has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.98.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by ($0.02). Amazon.com had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 10.83%.The company had revenue of $213.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter valued at $32,868,735,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 27,376.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 98,448,885 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,272,397,000 after purchasing an additional 98,090,585 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 20,598.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 87,982,814 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $20,308,193,000 after purchasing an additional 87,557,736 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the 1st quarter worth $11,674,091,000. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 879.4% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 27,862,400 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $6,431,199,000 after purchasing an additional 25,017,588 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity at Amazon.com
In related news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 17,751 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.22, for a total transaction of $3,642,860.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,930,094.10. The trade was a 65.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,695 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.90, for a total transaction of $554,900.50. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 119,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,662,702. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 72,686 shares of company stock worth $14,899,239 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.
Amazon.com News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Broader market tailwind — tech names rallied after a U.S. ceasefire/ Iran‑tension easing headline, lifting Amazon alongside other Magnificent Seven stocks; this helped push momentum back above technical levels. Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia lead tech rally after Trump announces ceasefire with Iran
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades/targets — Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $260 (overweight) and Moffett Nathanson boosted its target to $288 (buy), supporting upside expectations from Wall Street. Benzinga price target note Moffett Nathanson price target raise
- Positive Sentiment: AWS commercial traction — Uber is expanding use of AWS Graviton/Trainium chips, showing demand for Amazon’s custom silicon and cloud stack that support higher‑margin services. This validates monetization of AI workloads on AWS. Uber is the latest to be won over by Amazon’s AI chips
- Positive Sentiment: Logistics stability — Amazon and USPS reached a deal that keeps ~80% of current USPS package volume, reducing near‑term delivery disruption risk and preserving a major logistics channel. That eases execution concerns around last‑mile costs. Amazon and U.S. Postal Service Reach New Deal on Deliveries After Year of Talks
- Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/Investor debate on AI capex — Several notes argue AI capex concerns are overdone and that backlog, revenue per employee and AWS demand justify spending; this supports a longer‑term bull case but leaves near‑term margin pressure debated. Analysts confident in Amazon.com’s scale
- Neutral Sentiment: Potential strategic moves — Market chatter about a possible Globalstar deal (satellite push) could be a re‑rating catalyst if executed and clearly explained, but it also carries execution and valuation risk. Investors are watching for details. Could Globalstar Be the Missing Spark the Stock Needs?
- Negative Sentiment: Legal risk — High‑profile creators (YouTubers) have sued Amazon, alleging scraped content was used to train video AI, introducing potential litigation and reputational risk around AI training/data practices. YouTubers Sue Amazon, Claim AI Tool Was Trained on Scraped Videos
- Negative Sentiment: Product & operational friction — Amazon will end support for pre‑2012 Kindles (customer backlash risk), and AWS experienced disruptions after drone strikes in Middle East data centers — both highlight operational/PR risks investors monitor. Amazon to end support for older Kindle devices AWS teams working around the clock after drone strikes
Amazon.com Company Profile
Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.
Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.