After an excellent 2020, the past year has been a disappointing one for Amazon (AMZN) stock. The shares’ 5% returns pale in comparison to the main indexes’ gains and sit uncomfortably next to most other mega-caps’ displays.
That said, Monness’ Brian White believes the company’s fortunes are “poised to change in 2022.”
“In our view,” said the 5-star analyst, “Amazon is uniquely positioned to exit this crisis as one of the biggest beneficiaries of accelerated digital transformation.”
And it’s the role Amazon Web Services (AWS) has to play in this “digital transformation” which excites White. Earlier this month, the company concluded its AWS re:Invent event which saw the announcement of several “new innovations.”
These included AWS Mainframe Modernization, a service which provides customers with a “faster and easier” way for mainframe and legacy workloads to migrate to the cloud. “This new service may entice sacred, mainframe workloads to move off systems offered by leading mainframe vendors, including IBM, and into the cloud with AWS,” White opined.
These was also the unveiling of AWS Private 5G, a service which enables enterprises to “set up and scale” a private mobile network swiftly and easily. AWS CEO Adam Selipsky also sounded “particularly excited” to announce new serverless options for Amazon Redshift, Amazon MSK, and Amazon EMR.
There was also a plethora of information offered which shone a light on AWS’ continued success. The platform boasts 84 availability zones, spanning 26 geographic regions with more than 200 fully featured services. More than 1.5 million customers rely on AWS for their data needs with its reach having expanded “well beyond the regions and availability zones of its core public cloud, with solutions that support on-premises, IoT, rugged edge, and the next frontier (e.g., AWS Ground Station for taking satellite data into AWS) workloads.”
It’s no surprise to learn White reiterated a Buy rating for AMZN stock, along with a $4,500 price target. Investors are looking at returns of 31% from current levels. (To watch White’s track record, click here)
Turning now to the rest of the Street, where there are no Amazon bears in sight. All 30 recent reviews are positive, providing the stock with a Strong Buy consensus rating. The average price target clocks in at $4,127.5, suggesting 12-month gains of 21%. (See Amazon stock analysis on TipRanks)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
