On January 15, Raymond James reduced its price target for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) from $275 to $260. The firm maintained an 'Outperform' rating on the stock.
In a research note, an analyst stated that the outlook for the fourth quarter appears positive. This assessment is based on solid holiday trends, strong advertising checks, and an expected beat from Amazon Web Services (AWS). The analyst noted that artificial intelligence (AI) will be the key driver of stock performance in the coming year.
Raymond James expressed continued confidence in the AWS cloud division. The firm highlighted "untapped potential in modern robotics" and anticipates that AWS performance estimates will be higher than currently forecasted. According to the firm, Wall Street's guidance for AWS growth seems conservative. Its own bottom-up modeling suggests a growth rate of 22% to 23% in 2026, compared to the current consensus of 20% to 21%.
The firm also raised concerns about "Agentic Commerce risks." It stated these risks could position Amazon as a "tweener" within its AI Stack framework due to the strengthening of non-Amazon e-commerce ecosystems. Beyond these concerns, Raymond James identified potential in several Amazon initiatives. These include Trainium/Neuron, Nova/Kira, Alexa+/Rufus, Zoox/Prime Air Drones, and robotics projects.