Amazon.com (AMZN 1.30%) finally closed above $1,000 on Friday, but at least one Wall Street pro sees the stock moving even higher. Tom Forte at Maxim boosted his price target on the shares from $1,075 to $1,300 on Tuesday.
Cracking into four digits -- something that happened on an intraday basis twice last week before finally closing above that chin-up bar on Friday and moving slightly higher on Monday -- is something that will stir analysts into raising their price goals. You don't want to be on the wrong side of $1,000 when Amazon's moving, even if a correction that would send the leading online retailer's stock back into the triple digits wouldn't be a surprise. However, Forte's boost isn't just a matter of tossing a token poker chip on to the table as a raise to stay in the game. He sees several categories available to Amazon with global total addressable markets exceeding $1 trillion. Amazon has come a long way in its first 20 years as a public company, but Forte believes that there's still a lot of room to grow.
Image source: Amazon.com.
Living up to its name
Maxim's Forte studied 18 different market opportunities for Amazon, including four categories which the dot-com darling has yet to officially enter. Let's assess Amazon's prospects in those four new market opportunities.
- Credit
- Gas stations
- Pharmacy
- Travel
When it comes to credit, Amazon has tiptoed into financial services over the years. Amazon Pay launched a decade ago as an online payments processing service. Amazon also has its own branded credit card, naturally in partnership with an issuing bank. There is an opportunity for Amazon to play a bigger role in financing, cashing in on the higher interest rates that are available in consumer credit.
Gas stations may seem like an outlandish suggestion, but keep in mind that Amazon's already starting to open physical stores. An experiment that began with pop-up holiday stores a few years ago has evolved into a couple of Amazon-branded stores as well as a recent push into groceries with drive-thru convenience. Following the lead of warehouse clubs and convenience stores it wouldn't be a surprise if gas pumps show up as a way to keep customers coming back.
Amazon as a drug dealer isn't far fetched, and just last month there were reports that Amazon was exploring an entry into the drugstore market. Just the whiff of Amazon's entry sent shares of pharmacy-benefit management specialists reeling. As more people rely on Amazon for their merchandise and pantry needs why wouldn't it also refill your prescriptions?
The fourth category highlighted by Forte is travel. Amazon launched Amazon Destinations in 2015, offering online travel bookings in select markets. It nixed the platform six months later, just as it was bowing out of its Amazon Local flash sale hub. It may seem odd to make a big push into online travel so soon after failing, but Amazon likely learned a lot the last time around. Amazon is also, quite frankly, a lot larger now than it was just two years ago.
Amazon is a serial disruptor, and it obviously isn't done upending industries and giving established players fits.
