Amazon's first-quarter earnings missed Wall Street's estimates
The shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are down 8.2% to trade at $2,271, after the e-commerce giant reported first-quarter earnings of $5.01 per share, which came in lower than Wall Street's $6.25 estimate. The firm's reported revenue of $75.45 billion exceeded estimates, however. The company also forecast a possible second-quarter loss -- its first in five years -- amid plans to spend over $4 billion in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite Amazon's gloomy outlook, no less than 15 analysts lifted their price targets, including UBS and J.P Morgan Securities, which both lifted their estimates to $3,000. Most members of the brokerage bunch are already overwhelmingly bullish on AMZN. In fact, of the 30 covering the stock, just one considers it a "hold," while the rest say "buy" or better. Echoing this, the consensus 12-month target price of $2,635.89 sits at a 15.4% premium to its current levels.
Today's plummet comes just one day after the FAANG name notched a record high of $2,475, ending April with a nearly 27% monthly gain. And while today's pullback puts the equity back near its early April levels, the 20-day moving average is keeping some of these losses in check.
Meanwhile, plenty of notable options activity is taking place for AMZN today. At last check, over 156,000 calls and 135,000 puts have crossed the tape, which is double the average intraday volume, and sits in the 98th percentile of its 52-week range. The two most popular contracts today are the weekly 05/01 2,300- and 2250-strike puts, with over 18,000 puts exchanging hands between the two and new positions being opened at both.