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Wedbush Capital Sees Amazon.com, Inc. Stock Going Up 39% As Margins Surge

By Kurt Osterberg · On April 24, 2017

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) caught some very bullish notes this morning from analysts at Wedbush, who see the stock rising an incredible amount over the next year.

Written by StockNews.com

Wedbush:

reiterated its Outperform rating on AMZN,

lifted its price target from $900 all the way up to $1,250…suggests a massive 39% upside to the stock’s Friday closing price of $898.53,

expects Amazon to continue delivering substantial earnings growth, which will be somewhat tempered by the retail giant’s usual spending on new initiatives. However, in contrast to prior years, Amazon now appears intent upon bolstering its annual profits. In prior years, the company was largely focused on top-line (revenue) growth only,

sees Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a major growth engine, with its gross and operating margins expanding rapidly in coming quarters.

Furthermore, the mix of Fulfillment by Amazon should also drive gross margins higher, while

international Prime membership growth should help increase overall revenues.

Accordingly, Wedbush expects Q1:

revenues of $35.97 billion, which is slightly ahead of the Wall Street consensus of $35.30 billion, and well above the company’s own guidance of $33.25 to $35.75 billion.

anticipates AMZN’s Q1 EPS to jump to $1.30, versus a more tepid consensus view for $1.13 in a much bigger divergence from Wall Street’s view.

We’ll find out if Wedbush is correct soon enough, with Amazon due to report earnings on Thursday, April 27, after the closing bell. Stay tuned right here on StockNews.com [and by extension, TalkMarkets.com], where we’ll have full coverage of the report, including initial analysis and reactions.

Amazon.com, Inc. shares rose $10.49 (+1.17%) in premarket trading Monday. Year-to-date, AMZN has gained 19.82%, versus a 5.40% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

AMZN currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #3 of 44 stocks in the Internet category.