Not bad for a company whose future inspired many doubts. Admittedly, early on, I was one of those doubters. Even though I've traded the stock in the past and made some money on it, yes, even I thought that Amazon would not live up to its promise of shareholder value. So far, Amazon has done relatively well on a long-term basis.

The Amazon brand and shopping experience has been working for the company. There's a lot of competition out there. You can buy books/housewares/electronics/used stuff/etc. at websites operated by Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY). Amazon, however, has successfully cut through all the online-retail noise and established itself as a dominant web presence.

If you look at the performance of the stock at AOL quotes, you'll definitely notice how awesome it is. I mean, year-to-date it's up about 60% at the time of this writing. Can that be possible? In this market?! I guess it is. Long-term investors should do well with the stock. And, I have to point out, I was very wrong the last time I talked about Amazon. Back in January, I was hesitant about buying. You know, though, I'm going to say it again. I simply wouldn't buy today on the news. I'd rather get in at a lower price. Sure, Amazon might go higher from here. We should get some sort of pullback at some point, however. It's tough to be patient, but it can save you money.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change without notice.