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Amazon (AMZN) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) closed at $1,990, marking a +0.14% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.04% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.11%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.23%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the online retailer had gained 3.52% over the past month. This has outpaced the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 2.72% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.16% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from AMZN as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 25, 2018. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.40, up 553.85% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $56.92 billion, up 30.12% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $18.27 per share and revenue of $234.73 billion. These totals would mark changes of +301.54% and +31.97%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for AMZN should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.94% higher within the past month. AMZN is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that AMZN has a Forward P/E ratio of 108.77 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 27.96.

It is also worth noting that AMZN currently has a PEG ratio of 4.03. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Internet - Commerce stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.08 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 213, which puts it in the bottom 16% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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