What happened
Are we witnessing the start of a tech stock rally? It's too soon to tell, but numerous big names in the industry rose from the ground on Wednesday.
One of them was Amazon (AMZN -1.16%), which closed the day 1.4% higher against an essentially flat S&P 500 index. In addition to being the target of tech stock bargain hunters, the powerhouse online retailer also benefited from a high-profile bank picking it as a top buy in that beaten-down sector.
So what
The analysis in question came from JPMorgan Chase's near-namesake JPMorgan unit. Prognosticator Doug Anmuth updated his coverage of internet stocks, with notably muted enthusiasm.
"The Internet sector continues to have secular growth, but it is far more mature than in 2008-2009, and the ability to offset broader, macro trends is more limited," he wrote in a new research note. "As a result, all of our companies are at risk in a slowing environment."
Anmuth reduced estimates for a clutch of these stocks, especially those most heavily associated with online advertising and e-commerce.
Now what
That was the bad news in the JPMorgan analyst's new take. The good news is that, according to Anmuth, several of the sector's big titles already have such negative factors priced into their shares. He tapped three of these as his "Best Ideas," one of them being Amazon (the other two were online travel agency incumbent Booking Holdings and rideshare king Uber).
In spite of that, Anmuth did give his price target on Amazon a haircut, to $175 per share from the previous $200.
