Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) released its second quarter earnings for fiscal year 2015 on July 23, far exceeding analyst predictions. While Amazon was expected to post a loss of ($0.14) per share, the company in fact reported diluted earnings per share of $0.19. Amazon raked in $23.18 billion in net sales over the quarter marking a 20% year-over-year increase and beating the analyst estimate of $22.37 billion.
Amazon's impressive earnings can be attributed to the company's success in expanding the services around the world along with introducing new platforms to the marketplace.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos highlighted several initiatives put in place that led to such a productive quarter for the company: “We unveiled Amazon business, opened Amazon Mexico, launched Prime free same-day, rolled out our ninth Prime Now city, [and] broke our Black Friday record with the first-ever Prime Day.”
On July 24 Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak reacted to Amazon's successful quarter by maintaining an Overweight rating on the stock and increasing his price target from $520 to $740. Nowak emphasized that the company reported an “everything quarter” and is “inflecting around the globe,” accelerating top-line growth in “all four of its main retail segments for the second quarter in a row.”
Brian Nowak has rated Amazon 16 times with a 69% success rate recommending the stock, earning an +18.9% average return per recommendation when measured over a one-year horizon and no benchmark.
Likewise, on July 24 Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz maintained a Buy rating on Amazon with a price target of $730. Pitz credited the “huge potential” of Amazon's international operations as well as “Amazon's ability to get purchases to consumers fast” as factors behind the online retailer's successful quarter and his bullish rating.
Brian Pitz has rated Amazon 14 times with an 85% success rate recommending the stock, earning a +32.6% average return per recommendation when measured over a one-year horizon and no benchmark.
