Research archive for AMZN

Last night, Amazon announced a stock split for the first time since 1999, and the fourth time since listing in 1997. This marks the end of an era of four-digit stock prices for the e-commerce juggernaut, joining other big tech companies like Tesla, Alphabet and Apple who recently turned to stock splits to attract more retail investors.

Last week we covered Amazon's ad business and their miracle supply chain. Today, we will be looking at their cloud business and show how it compares to its peers. AWS has grown into the most successful cloud infrastructure company on the planet, garnering more than 33% of the market. That's more than Microsoft and Google combined.

A modern supply chain is nothing short of a miracle, and Amazon delivery is a perfect example. Between the moment you click "place order" and the moment your package goes on the truck, the amount of time that passes is just 45 minutes! That's less than an hour to process, locate, pack, scan, label your package before hitting the road. It takes me 15 minutes just to get out of the house, and I live two blocks away from the office.

We have already covered Amazon's impressive results, but I wanted to discuss their advertising business in more detail. This was the first time that Amazon broke out advertising revenues as a line item. As it turns out, the business is bigger than YouTube.

Amazon's fourth quarter earnings were published last Thursday night, and they were very well received. Despite being a really big company already, they delivered tremendous growth. Amazon is now trading 16% higher than just before the numbers hit the news wires.

Amazon bought the rights to the Lord of The Rings in 2017 for $250 million and will spend $1 billion on the 5 season production. This could make Game Of Thrones look like a children's nativity play.

Having a large and engaged user base is a massive asset and many of our tech titans are in this fortunate position. Every now and then they launch a new product, and if it's a success, it grows incredibly quickly. Amazon's advertising business is a great example of this.

Last week, Amazon announced it was buying electric vans from Stellantis, a company formed last year from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group. This was a little confusing for the market since the e-commerce giant has a big stake in the newly listed Rivian Automotive, which already has a mandate to build electric vans for Amazon.

Amazon is about to add another trophy to their cabinet - the largest US package delivery company. The company estimates that they will deliver more packages in the US by the end of the year than any other company. Amazon currently has over 40 000 trucks, 30 000 vans, 70 planes, and an airport or two in their arsenal.

Byron was on paternity leave when I put my hand up in the office to write about the Amazon and Starbucks store tie-up. So here's another take on the news, with a slightly different angle.

Last week Amazon reported third-quarter results which were slightly disappointing compared to expectations. Sales grew 15% to $110.8 billion versus estimates of $111.5 billion. This was because e-commerce sales only grew 3%. I suppose that makes sense because many businesses are struggling to produce enough stock to sell, due to logistics challenges. Amazon's in-house and third-party retailers are probably dealing with the same problems.

Currently, our US portfolios are focused on technology and healthcare. So we are always fired up by companies that straddle the two sectors.

Amazon just announced its newest invention - a home assistant robot named Astro. Astro is equipped with a screen that's mounted onto a base with wheels just like in those Star Wars films. The robot can perform various tasks including mobile security, playing music, calling your mates, and transporting things around if they weigh less than 2 kilograms.

Earlier in the year, Amazon announced that it had acquired distribution rights for SmartLess, a popular podcast hosted by actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes. However, the company didn't do the deal just for the right to distribute some interesting content. Bezos and his team wanted to sell ads on the show.

Amazon reported its earnings on Thursday night last week. These are highly anticipated numbers because it's one of a few companies with over $1 trillion in market cap. Amazon beat profit expectations, but missed revenue forecasts. Sales grew by 41% in pandemic-stricken 2020, as a result of a societal shift to online shopping. In this reporting period they advanced by another 27%.