Some of the greatest returns this century have come from getting in early on certain technology companies. Take a look at Amazon (AMZN +1.60%), whose shares have skyrocketed almost 214,000% since the initial public offering in May 1997 (as of March 9). Had you invested $1,000 in this business at that time, you'd have a jaw-dropping $2.1 million today.
It's time to view this "Magnificent Seven" stock with a fresh lens. Is Amazon a once-in-a-decade buying opportunity right now?
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No shortage of levers to pull
Even with 2025 net sales totaling $716.9 billion, Amazon's growth is not close to being finished. Sell-side analysts expect the top line to increase at a compound annual rate of 12.2% between 2025 and 2028, at which point the business will be collecting over $1 trillion in yearly sales.
Amazon's advantage is that it operates in several growth markets. It's the leader in e-commerce. With online shopping accounting for well below 20% of retail sales in the U.S., there is a lot of room to expand.
Investors might not be familiar with the company's advertising revenue, which soared 23% year over year in Q4 2025 (ended Dec. 31) to $21.3 billion.
Plus, there's Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing powerhouse. Revenue came in at $128.7 billion in 2025, with a stellar operating margin of 35.4%. Companies have only scratched the surface when moving their IT workloads off-premises, supporting durable AWS growth.
Amazon's position in artificial intelligence
A lot of investors want exposure to artificial intelligence (AI). Amazon is a top choice. AWS positions the business as a leader in the AI race, particularly at the infrastructure level, as cloud customers need computing to be able to leverage all the tools that are available.
"The biggest reason that AWS continues to gain AI share is our uniquely broad top-to-bottom AI stack functionality," CEO Andy Jassy said on the Q4 2025 earnings call.
Amazon has no intention of falling behind its tech peers. The company's capital expenditures will total $200 billion this year, according to the management team's guidance. That's up dramatically from $131 billion in 2025.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
Reminiscing about the good old days
Amazon continues to operate from a position of strength. I don't expect this to change anytime soon. With its shares also trading at a 10-year-low price-to-earnings ratio of 29.2, investors would be wise to consider buying the business today.
This isn't a once-in-a-decade opportunity, though. That's only true for those investors who bought the stock when Amazon was earlier in its incredible journey to dominance.
