Amazon.com Inc. rallied to a record intraday high Friday in the wake of quarterly results that topped analyst projections as the e-commerce company said online shopping will remain high in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Its shares rose as much as 2.4 per cent to touch an all-time high of US$3,554, taking out a previous record that was set in September. First-quarter revenue jumped 44 per cent to US$108.5 billion and earnings were a record US$15.79 a share, blowing past Wall Street analysts’ expectations. It also provided a second-quarter sales forecast that were stronger than projections.
Analysts were widely positive on Amazon’s results, with several boosting their share-price targets and calling for strong long-term growth ahead.
“Business trends remain strong and should continue to do so throughout 2021,” wrote Susquehanna Financial Group, which raised its price target to a Street-high view of US$5,500. While earnings for the three months ended March 31 were remarkable, its second-quarter’s outlook is “even more impressive.” In the longer run, Amazon will continue to grow given the strength of its major business units, the research firm added.
Amazon is now up 8.7 per cent this year, while the Nasdaq 100 Index gained almost 8 per cent. With Friday’s climb, it was the last of the major U.S. tech stocks to hit a record in 2021. It has 53 buy recommendations, one hold and no sell ratings, and analyst are still expecting another 19 per cent surge in its share price over the next 12 months, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
All megatech companies have now reported quarterly results with Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. also beating analyst expectations.
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