With online spending up 18 percent since Black Friday 2016, one analyst told CNBC that he has never seen a better holiday sales outlook for e-commerce giant Amazon.

“I have to say that this is probably the best setup for Amazon, at least for the holiday shopping season, that I’ve seen in the 15 years we’ve covered the stock,” Victor Anthony, managing director of internet media at Aegis Capital, said on “Squawk Alley” on Friday.

Shares of Amazon hit an all-time high intraday as U.S. consumers poured hundreds of millions of dollars into both on- and offline purchases.

According to Adobe Analytics, shoppers collectively spent $640 million online as of 10 a.m. ET on Friday. Mobile visits accounted for a record 61 percent of traffic, Adobe said.

Anthony attributed Amazon’s strength in particular to its home devices, Amazon Alexa and the Echo, the accelerating growth of e-commerce and the performance of its mobile app.

“On the mobile side for Amazon, when I took a look at the app downloads this year, they had by far the highest number of app downloads — eBay coming in second — of any company within the U.S.,” the analyst said.

Amazon’s app also had the best performance on Thanksgiving Day, Anthony added.

Oliver Chen, managing director and senior equity research analyst of retail and luxury goods at Cowen, acknowledged that Amazon is undoubtedly “a threat” to traditional retailers but said the “social experience” shoppers chase on Black Friday would be a boon for brick and mortar.

“That’s something that can’t really be replicated online, but I do agree [that] voice technology, home, automation, thinking about artificial intelligence, that is the future of retail,” Chen said. “Our view here is that bricks plus clicks matters, and physical stores still matter as well. But Amazon is something to watch.”

Source: Tech CNBC
Aegis Capital's Victor Anthony says, 'This is the best setup for Amazon' he's seen in 15 years