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Amazon (AMZN) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) closed at $241.70, marking a +1.41% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.22%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.03%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.66%.

Heading into today, shares of the online retailer had lost 7.09% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 5.51% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.21%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Amazon in its forthcoming earnings report. In that report, analysts expect Amazon to post earnings of $1.82 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 8.33%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $196.87 billion, showing a 17.39% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.85 per share and revenue of $826.67 billion, which would represent changes of +23.43% and +15.31%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Amazon. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Amazon is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Investors should also note Amazon's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 26.93. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.07, which means Amazon is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that AMZN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.56. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Internet - Commerce industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.06 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 182, finds itself in the bottom 27% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.

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