Saying that Amazon (AMZN 2.62%) has won back investors would be a bit of an understatement. Its shares have rocketed 73% higher through the first 11 months of 2023, which is an optimistic breath of fresh air following last year's huge decline.
As 2023 nears its close, those who have missed Amazon's rally might be eyeing the business as a worthy opportunity right now. Should investors rush to buy this tech stock before the year ends? Here's why that's a smart idea.
Tailwinds galore
Even if you aren't that familiar with Amazon's business, I'm sure you still know this is a gargantuan enterprise. The company's current market capitalization is $1.5 trillion, making it the world's fifth-most-valuable corporation. And in the past 12 months, Amazon generated net sales of $554 billion, putting it behind only Walmart when it comes to revenue figures.
However, if you assumed that Amazon's growth prospects are limited due to its massive size, you'd be making a mistake. Lots of tailwinds have lifted and should continue to propel this tech titan.
Take online shopping. The pandemic might have accelerated consumer behavior around this trend, but e-commerce penetration has already been rising rapidly over the last decade. Even now, online sales still account for less than 16% of total retail spending in the U.S., according to data from the Federal Reserve. This means lots of expansion potential on the horizon.
As the "everything store" offering fast and free shipping thanks to its sprawling logistics network, Amazon is in a prime position to capture a sizable chunk of the industry's growth in the decades ahead.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
Besides online shopping, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud division, benefits from enterprises shifting their IT spending off-premises. AWS has a 32% market share on a global level, putting it well ahead of offerings from rivals Microsoft and Alphabet.
In the cloud market, scale matters, as many up-front fixed investments are required to develop the necessary tech and data infrastructure. As one of the first cloud computing services, AWS has unmatched scale. Revenue in the trailing-12-month period totaled $88 billion, and the operating margin in the most recent quarter was an impressive 30%.
Grand View Research estimates that worldwide revenue in the cloud market will approach $1.6 trillion by 2030. This is another major growth engine that will boost Amazon.
Additionally, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) is a trend investors are paying close attention to now. With AWS, Amazon owns and operates a mission-critical infrastructure provider for its various customers. And it's a platform that allows the business to test and implement various AI initiatives with immediate user feedback.
For example, Amazon Bedrock is a service that provides AWS clients with the tools they need to create their own generative AI applications. As customers continue to depend more heavily on Amazon, it will only strengthen the company's competitive standing.
Investor setup
Riding multiple growth tailwinds is a wonderful attribute for investors to see. But it's important to make sure you're not overpaying for a stock, particularly one that has risen so much in 2023.
Amazon shares are trading hands for a price-to-sales multiple of 2.7. Unsurprisingly, that's a premium to where the stock was at the start of the year. However, it's still below Amazon's trailing-three-, five-, and 10-year valuation averages. This setup means now is a good time to consider buying the stock before 2023 comes to a close, even though it has rallied considerably this year.
