E-commerce is slumping as consumers spend more of their money on the services and experiences that they were not able to enjoy during the height of the pandemic. Consequently, they are spending less on goods in general and e-commerce in particular. That trend is hurting the shares of most e-commerce companies, including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock. In fact, the e-commerce giant’s shares have tumbled 35% so far this year.
But most trends do not last for very long, and I expect consumers’ spending on goods and e-commerce to accelerate after they have had their fill of going on vacations, eating at restaurants, and shopping at brick-and-mortar stores. And when that reacceleration occurs, Amazon’s revenue growth should also greatly climb. As a result, I continue to recommend that long-term investors buy AMZN stock.
AWS Shines and Analysts Are Upbeat on AMZN Stock
The revenue of Amazon’s cloud unit, known as AWS, jumped 36% year-over-year in the first quarter to $18.4 billion. The latter figure was slightly above analysts’ average estimate.
Despite tremendous worries about the economy’s outlook, businesses on the whole are doing very well. Illustrating that point, S&P’s U.S. Composite Purchasing Managers’ Output Index (PMI) fell slightly in April versus March, but was still a robust 55.1. As Reuters explained: “A reading above 50 indicates growth in the private sector.” The April Services PMI, unsurprisingly, was stronger, coming in at 56.
Given business’ continued strength, I expect their spending on the transition to the cloud to remain quite elevated, benefiting AWS and AMZN stock.
Meanwhile, multiple research firms appear to agree with my assessment that Amazon will make a comeback over the longer term. For example, Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) expects the company’s growth to reaccelerate in the second half of the year, while Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) anticipates that the company, which reported a Q1 net loss of $3.8 billion, to reenter the black in the second half of the year. Finally, William Blair expects the company’s spending “to normalize” in the second half.
All of those firms cut their price targets on AMZN stock, but they also all maintained “buy” or similar ratings on the name.
With AWS poised to continue to grow rapidly and Amazon’s e-commerce business well-positioned to reaccelerate, long-term investors should buy AMZN stock.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
