{"id":57976,"date":"2018-02-03T07:55:40","date_gmt":"2018-02-03T07:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=57976"},"modified":"2018-02-03T07:55:40","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T07:55:40","slug":"amazon-stock-market-value-on-verge-of-eclipsing-microsoft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/business\/amazon-stock-market-value-on-verge-of-eclipsing-microsoft.html","title":{"rendered":"Amazon stock market value on verge of eclipsing Microsoft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amazon stock market value on verge of eclipsing Microsoft<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Amazon.com Inc\u2019s shares surged on Friday, pushing its stock market value above $700 billion and threatening to eclipse Microsoft Corp, a day after the online retailing behemoth reported blockbuster results.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon\u2019s stock was up 3.7 percent at $1,441 per share in afternoon trade, on track for a record high close and putting its market capitalization at $701 billion. The stock traded as high as $1,498.<\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft fell 2.2 percent to $92.97, trimming its market capitalization to about $711 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apple Inc, the world\u2019s most valuable listed company, was worth $827 billion on Friday after reporting disappointing iPhone sales on Thursday. Its stock fell 3.7 percent to $161.57.<\/span><\/p>\n

The major stock indexes fell as much as 2.1 percent in a broad retreat.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least 13 brokerages raised their price targets for Amazon after it posted record profits, pointing to growth potential from increasing global Prime subscriptions and a market-leading cloud business.<\/span><\/p>\n

Analysts at Jefferies, Wedbush and Credit Suisse were the most bullish, boosting their targets to $1,750. At that price, Amazon would be worth about $850 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s stock has jumped 150 percent to new highs since Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella took over in 2014 and made the company a major player in cloud computing while reducing its dependence on a tepid personal computer industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Microsoft has failed to keep up with Amazon shares, which have surged 73 percent in the past 12 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon revenue has been growing at a scorching pace as more shopping moves online and businesses shift their computing operations to the cloud, where Amazon Web Services (AWS) leads the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

AWS, which competes with Microsoft\u2019s Azure and Alphabet Inc\u2019s Google Cloud platform, reported a 45 percent jump in revenue to $5.1 billion in the quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAWS is still adding more incremental dollars than all public cloud competitors combined,\u201d Barclays analyst Ross Sandler said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The high-margin business, which accounts for a significant chunk of Amazon\u2019s operating profit, has been providing cash for investments and supporting the razor-thin margins in retail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon\u2019s earlier investments in warehouses have yielded results for the company as lower shipping costs boosted its quarterly operating margin to 3.5 percent, its highest fourth-quarter margin since 2010, analysts said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wall Street analysts are overwhelmingly bullish on Amazon, with 46 of 50 brokerages rating it \u201cbuy\u201d or higher, three \u201chold\u201d and only one \u201csell.\u201d Their median price target is $1,580.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-amazon-com-results-research\/amazon-stock-market-value-on-verge-of-eclipsing-microsoft-idUSKBN1FM1OH<\/span><\/p>\n

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