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How To Invest In
Amazon (AMZN) is a leading internet retail business based in the US. It opened the day at $3185.5601 after a previous close of $3161.47. During the day the price has varied from a low of $3183.4099 to a high of $3228.8601. The latest price was $3222.8999 (25 minute delay). Amazon is listed on the NASDAQ and employs 1,271,000 staff. All prices are listed in US Dollars.
How to buy shares in Amazon
- Choose a platform. If you're a beginner, our share-dealing table below can help you choose.
- Open your account. You'll need your ID, bank details and national insurance number.
- Confirm your payment details. You'll need to fund your account with a bank transfer, debit card or credit card.
- Search the platform for stock code: AMZN in this case.
- Research Amazon shares. The platform should provide the latest information available.
- Buy your Amazon shares. It's that simple.
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What's in this guide?
- Can I buy shares in Amazon?
- Has coronavirus impacted Amazon shares?
- Amazon shares summary
- Compare share dealing platforms
- Is Amazon stock a buy or sell?
- Amazon performance over time
- Can I short Amazon shares?
- Is Amazon suitable for ethical investing?
- Are Amazon shares over-valued?
- Amazon's financials
- How volatile are Amazon shares?
- Does Amazon pay a dividend?
- Have Amazon shares ever split?
- Other common questions
How has Coronavirus impacted Amazon's share price?
Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Amazon's share price has had significant positive movement.
Its last market close was $3057.1599, which is 31.44% up on its pre-crash value of $2095.97 and 88.01% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as $1626.0318.
If you had bought $1,000 worth of Amazon shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth $951.42 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth $1,528.58.
Amazon share price
Use our graph to track the performance of AMZN stocks over time.Amazon shares at a glance
Information last updated 2021-05-14.
| Open | $3185.5601 |
|---|---|
| High | $3228.8601 |
| Low | $3183.4099 |
| Close | $3222.8999 |
| Previous close | $3161.47 |
| Change | $61.4299 |
| Change % | 1.9431% |
| Volume | 3,325,022 |
Information last updated 2021-05-15.
| 52-week range | $2330 - $3554 |
|---|---|
| 50-day moving average | $3291.1538 |
| 200-day moving average | $3204.2092 |
| Wall St. target price | $4213.71 |
| PE ratio | 61.3162 |
| Dividend yield | N/A (0%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | $52.562 |
Compare online stock trading platforms
Note: The dollar amounts in the table below are in Canadian dollars.
Online stock trading
Is it a good time to buy Amazon stock?
The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.
Amazon price performance over time
Historical closes compared with the last close of $3222.8999
| 1 week (2021-05-05) | -1.46% |
|---|---|
| 3 months (2021-02-16) | -1.41% |
| 6 months (2020-11-16) | 2.93% |
| 1 year (2020-05-15) | 33.74% |
|---|---|
| 2 years (2019-05-15) | 72.24% |
| 3 years (2018-05-15) | 104.48% |
| 5 years (2016-05-13) | 353.98% |
Is Amazon under- or over-valued?
Valuing Amazon stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Amazon's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.
Amazon's P/E ratio
Amazon's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 61x. In other words, Amazon shares trade at around 61x recent earnings.
That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.
Amazon's PEG ratio
Amazon's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.2748. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Amazon's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
Amazon's EBITDA
Amazon's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$57.2 billion.
The EBITDA is a measure of a Amazon's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
Amazon financials
| Revenue TTM | USD$419.1 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 7.1% |
| Gross profit TTM | USD$152.8 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 6.84% |
| Return on equity TTM | 31.92% |
| Profit margin | 6.42% |
| Book value | $205 |
| Market capitalisation | USD$1.6 trillion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
How to short and sell Amazon shares
- Create a CFD or spread betting account.
- Search for the stock code. E.g. "AMZN.US"
- Choose your position size.
- Select "sell" rather than "buy".
- Confirm your position and keep tabs on it. You may wish to set limits on your position.
There are currently 4.8 million Amazon shares held short by investors – that's known as Amazon's "short interest". This figure is 16.8% down from 5.7 million last month.
There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Amazon shares can be evaluated.
Amazon's "short interest ratio" (SIR)
Amazon's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Amazon shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Amazon shares traded daily (recently around 3.6 million). Amazon's SIR currently stands at 1.33. In other words for every 100,000 Amazon shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1330 shares are currently held short.
However Amazon's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Amazon shares, or, against the total number of tradable Amazon shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Amazon's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Amazon shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.011% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Amazon shares, roughly 11 shares are currently held short).
Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Amazon.
Find out more about how you can short Amazon stock.
Amazon's environmental, social and governance track record
Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Amazon.
When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.
Amazon's total ESG risk score
Total ESG risk: 33.42
Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Amazon's overall score of 33.42 (as at 12/31/2018) is nothing to write home about – landing it in it in the 52nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector.
ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Amazon is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).
Amazon's environmental score
Environmental score: 10.63/100
Amazon's environmental score of 10.63 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Amazon is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Amazon's social score
Social score: 18.52/100
Amazon's social score of 18.52 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Amazon is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.
Amazon's governance score
Governance score: 12.78/100
Amazon's governance score puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Amazon is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Amazon's controversy score
Controversy score: 3/5
ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Amazon scored a 3 out of 5 for controversy – a middle-of-the-table result reflecting that Amazon hasn't always managed to keep its nose clean.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary
Amazon.com, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.
| Total ESG score | 33.42 |
|---|---|
| Total ESG percentile | 52.16 |
| Environmental score | 10.63 |
| Environmental score percentile | 7 |
| Social score | 18.52 |
| Social score percentile | 7 |
| Governance score | 12.78 |
| Governance score percentile | 7 |
| Level of controversy | 3 |
Amazon share dividends
We're not expecting Amazon to pay a dividend over the next 12 months. However, you can browse other dividend-paying shares in our guide.
Have Amazon's shares ever split?
Amazon's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 1 September 1999. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Amazon shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Amazon shares which in turn could have impacted Amazon's share price.
Amazon share price volatility
Over the last 12 months, Amazon's shares have ranged in value from as little as $2330 up to $3554. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while Amazon's is 1.1455. This would suggest that Amazon's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).
Amazon overview
Amazon.com, Inc. engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It sells merchandise and content purchased for resale from third-party sellers through physical and online stores. The company also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TVs, Rings, and Echo and other devices; provides Kindle Direct Publishing, an online service that allows independent authors and publishers to make their books available in the Kindle Store; and develops and produces media content. In addition, it offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its websites, as well as its stores; and programs that allow authors, musicians, filmmakers, skill and app developers, and others to publish and sell content. Further, the company provides compute, storage, database, analytics, machine learning, and other services, as well as fulfillment, advertising, publishing, and digital content subscriptions. Additionally, it offers Amazon Prime, a membership program, which provides free shipping of various items; access to streaming of movies and TV episodes; and other services. The company serves consumers, sellers, developers, enterprises, and content creators. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
Frequently asked questions
Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of futures, stocks, ETFs, CFDs, options or any specific provider, service or offering. It should not be relied upon as investment advice or construed as providing recommendations of any kind. Futures, stocks, ETFs and options trading involves substantial risk of loss and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Trading CFDs and forex on leverage comes with a higher risk of losing money rapidly. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Consider your own circumstances, and obtain your own advice, before making any trades.
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