Research archive for AMZN

Last week Amazon raised $10 billion in the bond market at a record low rate for corporate America. Included in the bond offering was 30-year and 40-year debt. The record low rates and long timeframe show how confident investors are in the long term future of the company.

On Thursday evening Amazon released its Q1 numbers. The company saw a 26% surge in sales, increasing to $75.5 billion for the first three months of this year. There has been a spike in demand for online e-tail, so much so that Amazon has had to hire an extra 175 000 people. In some parts of the world they have also had to prioritise certain orders, to make sure that people get their necessitates.

Amazon has just launched its 'Amazon Go Grocery' store. What makes the store special is that there is no need to go past a check out counter when you are done shopping. While you are walking around, cameras and AI keep track of what you are buying, and then when you leave the store, it simply charges your Amazon account.

I have more good news for you. Amazon shares jumped up by 10% after the company reported astonishingly good holiday trading season results last night. These numbers really underscored the benefits of Amazon's massive investment in its distribution network, and in the value proposition of the Amazon Prime offering.

We have already spoken about Amazon and their relationship with Indian powerhouse retailer, Future Retail. The company which has 1 500 stores and 350 million visitors a year. Amazon has a 4% stake in the business and will be holding Future's hand in their attempt to crack the Indian market.

I came across two articles talking about jobs that didn't exist a few years ago. The first, is a company that offers productivity sessions. You pay them to rent a desk for a period of time, where you have a specific task to compete. They will then check up on you during the session to see how it is going. Part of the service can include them taking your phone away from you to reduce distractions.

On Thursday night after the market closed, Amazon reported its Q3 numbers. It reported revenue of $70 billion, growing by 24% and beating estimates by $1.3 billion. On a profit side, EPS was $4.23, missing estimates by $0.26. Lastly, the guidance for their final and biggest quarter of the year was less than expected. Once the results hit the street, the Amazon share price dropped 9% in after hours trading. Thankfully, once investors had a chance to dwell on the results and have a good night sleep, things didn't look as bad on Friday morning. When the stock closed on Friday evening it was down 1%.

For the first time ever Amazon is now its own largest delivery agent. Now employing over 648 000 people, the online retail behemoth is cutting out the middle man with 390 warehouses, 50 planes, 300 trucks and 20 000 delivery vans according to this article titled Amazon Logistics Has Arrived, Early.

Great companies are always innovating. That's why it's so thrilling to be a direct shareholder of these enterprises. I'm sure that you have seen the recent stories about Amazon becoming a giant in the shipping and delivery business.

Amazon announced yesterday that it will be shutting down its restaurant food delivery services "Amazon Restaurants" on the 24th of June, hanging up the gloves, caving to fierce competition from GrubHub, DoorDash, and UberEats. This is wonderful news for the remaining competitors in the US.

Amazon has officially launched their delivery drone. Exciting times!

Last week it was announced that Amazon would be leading a $575 million investment in Deliveroo. I have actually been following this company closely for a while now because I met a couple on honeymoon who had gone to Wharton Business School with the founder of Deliveroo. They even got offered the opportunity to invest in it right at the start, which they turned down. Ouch! Having said that they also turned down 6 other startups from their classmates which all failed.

I have now seen it all. Berkshire Hathaway has been buying shares in Amazon. Why do I sound so shocked? Because Amazon is a notoriously expensive stock and Warren is the king of value. He has often mentioned his admiration for Jeff Bezos and Amazon but would often say he was too late.

On Thursday night Amazon released their Q1 earnings. The numbers looked good. Operating cash flow was up 89% to $34.4bn. This is an important number for a company that is notoriously non-profitable because of its' high investment rate. Sales for the quarter increased 17% to $59.7bn, Net income more than doubled to a record $3.6bn or $7.09 a share. Revenues were in line with expectations but profits comfortably beat.

Jeff Bezos released his annual shareholders letter yesterday. It is my third favourite annual letter after Berkshire Hathaway and of course Vestact. He started the letter with an interesting trend.