Some on Wall Street are getting even more bullish on Amazon now that it has recently surged above $1,000 a share.
Macquarie raised its price target and reiterated its outperform rating, saying Amazon will dominate the e-commerce and cloud computing markets for years.
Amazon shares have rallied 37 percent this year through Friday, compared with the S&P 500’s 10.4 percent return.
“Amazon will be the most valuable company on the planet one day,” analyst Benjamin Schachter wrote in a note to clients Monday. “We see few competitive threats to its core retail/marketplace business, and while AWS [Amazon Web Services] is seeing increased competition from MSFT and GOOG (among others), we think its lead there is well established.”
Amazon’s stock will have to surge further to reach the number one ranking. As of midday Monday, its market value was $495 billion, versus Apple’s $789 billion, according to FactSet. The smartphone maker is currently the most valuable company in the world.
Schachter increased his 12-month Amazon price target to $1,130 from $1,060, representing 10 percent upside from Friday’s close.
The analyst is bullish on the company going into its second quarter earnings announcement on Thursday.
“In terms of the core fundamentals, we see more of the same, continued solid rev growth, with near-term margins likely pressured by investment,” he wrote. “Yet, given the company’s track record, we expect that investment in India, video, Prime Now, grocery, and other areas will be welcome.”
— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this story.
Next stop for Amazon is ‘most valuable company on the planet,’ analyst predicts