Amazon jumps on upgrade

Posted Apr 16th 2007 11:11AM by Michael Fowlkes
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Good news, Internet, Amazon.com (AMZN)

Shares of Amazon.com Inc. (NYSE: AMZN) have gotten off to a strong start this week following an upgrade on the stock this morning. After opening the session at $43.77, shares of the online retailer have quickly soared to set a new 52 week high. In the first few minutes of trading, the stock is up 4.3% to $44.23 and set a new yearly high of $44.44.

Investors can thank this morning's run up to Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), which lifted its rating on the stock to a "buy" from a "hold." The Deutsche analysts stated that they see the potential for operating margin improvement in the near term, for the following reasons:

Easier comparisons shortly from the Toys 'R' Us contract termination last year,
Slowdown in technology and content spending,
The emergence of Amazon Web Services over the next six to eight quarters.

In addition to raising their rating on the stock, Deutsche Bank also gave the company a nice price target increase. Deutsche raised their price target on Amazon.com from $37 all the way up to $50 a share.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Tags: AMZN, DB