I kind of want to shed a little tear, because I agree with everything my formidable Foolish dueling adversary Anders Bylund says about Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) -- except that now's the time to buy. Maybe he's right, maybe I've just become a bit of a cheapskate, but I can't help but think there will come a more prudent time to buy into what is, yes, an excellent company.
A quick check of the usual valuation metrics for Amazon simply makes me stop in my tracks. It's trading at 106 times earnings, and about 50 times forward earnings. It's got a PEG ratio hovering around 3. Compare that to some comparable Internet giants. eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) is a cheapie in comparison, with a P/E of 34, a forward P/E of 21, and a PEG ratio of 1.31. Even Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) looks like a big, fat bargain (which certainly sounds like a weird thing for me to say), with a P/E of 41, a forward P/E of 26, and a PEG ratio of 1.0.
The very fact that Amazon is such a visionary company tends to provide opportunities for investors to fret; every once in a while investors seem to convince themselves that Amazon is nothing more than an old-school, bricks-and-mortar retailer and will grow like one in its more mature years, another Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) or Borders (NYSE:BGP). "It's over," they'll sigh. "Amazon really is just a retailer after all." Then they'll get upset when, say, Jeff Bezos says Amazon's going to start selling rocket-ship trips on the site. And then kvetch about free shipping and capex spending. You know the drill. You've seen it before. Like, last year. (Well, minus the rocket trips.)
True, the past isn't necessarily prologue (and who knows what will happen with the rocket ships), but it just seems like some of these abrupt changes are common for Amazon. And so I remain a reluctant Amazon bear -- one who's just waiting for a much more reasonable price to love this stock again.
Wait! You're not done with this Duel. Go back and read the other arguments, then vote for a winner.
Amazon.com and eBay are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. Wal-Mart and Borders are Motley Fool Inside Value recommendations.
Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool's disclosure policy enjoys free shipping.
