Staple Stocks Are Winning. Don’t Panic About a Market Downturn—Yet.
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: May 25 2024
0mins
Should l Buy AMZN?
Source: barron's
- Consumer Spending Trends: Consumers are buying fewer nonessentials, impacting stocks with high exposure to discretionary spending like Target, Nike, and Starbucks.
- Market Performance: The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund has underperformed the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund and the S&P 500 this year.
- Economic Signals: During economic slowdowns, investors tend to favor companies selling essential goods over discretionary stocks, possibly signaling tougher market conditions.
- Market Interpretation: Market experts differ on whether the weakness in consumer sectors is a warning sign or not, given the unusual economic cycles of recent years.
- Future Outlook: Concerns about inflation, interest rates, and wage growth may continue to impact consumer spending, but opinions vary on the potential for a recession and the future performance of discretionary stocks.
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Analyst Views on AMZN
Wall Street analysts forecast AMZN stock price to rise
44 Analyst Rating
41 Buy
3 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 199.600
Low
175.00
Averages
280.01
High
325.00
Current: 199.600
Low
175.00
Averages
280.01
High
325.00
About AMZN
Amazon.com, Inc. provides a range of products and services to customers. The products offered through its stores include merchandise and content it has purchased for resale and products offered by third-party sellers. The Company’s segments include North America, International and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It serves consumers through its online and physical stores and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. Customers access its offerings through its websites, mobile apps, Alexa, devices, streaming, and physically visiting its stores. It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablet, Fire TV, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero, and develops and produces media content. It serves developers and enterprises of all sizes, including start-ups, government agencies, and academic institutions, through AWS, which offers a set of on-demand technology services, including compute, storage, database, analytics, and machine learning, and other services.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Capital Expenditure Plans: Amazon plans to increase capital expenditures to $200 billion by 2026, a 56% rise from $128 billion in 2025, raising investor concerns about the company's financial health, particularly regarding its significant investments in AI infrastructure.
- Accelerating Cloud Growth: Amazon Web Services (AWS) saw a 24% revenue increase in Q4, the fastest growth in 13 quarters, with CEO Andy Jassy noting that the custom chip business has surpassed a $10 billion annual revenue run rate, indicating that AI investments are beginning to yield returns.
See More
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- Valuation Pullback Justified: Despite significant revenue and earnings growth, Amazon's stock has declined by approximately 7% since 2025, with its PE ratio dropping to 26.5 times, reflecting a market reassessment of its valuation, potentially providing a reasonable buying opportunity for investors.
- Capital Expenditure Plans: Amazon plans to invest $200 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, primarily for data center construction, which may impact cash flows; however, if AI computing demand continues to grow, this investment will support future business expansion.
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See More
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- Autonomous Driving Vision: CEO Elon Musk clearly stated in the recent earnings call that only 1% to 5% of miles driven will be by humans in the future, indicating Tesla's leadership in autonomous driving, with expectations that Cybercab production will surpass all other models combined.
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See More
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- AI-Driven Growth: Amazon's development of hundreds of generative AI applications has improved retail operational efficiency, with a 1.5 percentage point increase in operating margin in Q4 and a 24% growth in cloud services sales, highlighting the positive impact of AI investments.
- Meta Platforms Investment Outlook: Ackman's 10% investment in Meta benefits from its position as the second-largest ad tech company globally, leveraging AI to enhance ad performance, with a 6% year-over-year increase in ad prices in Q4 indicating strong advertiser demand.
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See More
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- Massive Spending Plans: Anthropic plans to invest $50 billion in U.S. AI infrastructure, focusing on data centers in Texas and New York, while competitors like Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta are budgeting significantly more at $200 billion, $185 billion, and $135 billion respectively, indicating fierce funding competition in the industry.
- Surge in Market Demand: According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, global chip sales are projected to reach $791.7 billion in 2025 and grow by 26% in 2026, indicating that AI demand is driving rapid growth across the entire sector.
See More
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- Space Data Center Concept: Google's initiative aims to harness uninterrupted solar power in space to alleviate cooling constraints, with Pichai describing it as a 'moonshot' akin to Waymo's ambitions, indicating high aspirations for technological advancement.
- Reliance on Technological Breakthroughs: Pichai notes that the feasibility of this initiative hinges on significant breakthroughs in launch technology by Musk's SpaceX, showcasing the potential for developing space-based infrastructure.
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See More
