Tech

Amazon shares get new $1,100 price target from Wall Street analyst

Key Points
  • Internet retail king will own half the total U.S. retail market in 5 years, Needham predicts.
  • Current Amazon market share at 34 percent, report states. Walmart has just 5 percent of market.
  • Needham upgrades Amazon to buy and slaps $1,100 price target on stock.
Amazon stock gets a big upgrade
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Amazon stock gets a big upgrade

Amazon can't and won't stop growing, according to one firm that upgraded the stock on Monday.

"We believe Amazon's established dominance in U.S. is sustainable with Prime, mobile penetration and third-party growth," Needham analyst Kerry Rice wrote in a note to investors. Further, Amazon Web Services will continue to be a "key driver" for the e-commerce giant to grow its profits, he added.

Rice upgraded the stock to buy from hold and initiated a price target of $1,100 per share. Shares of Amazon closed Monday up over 1 percent at $907.04 per share.

Over the next five years, Rice said he anticipates Amazon to grow its U.S. market share by 16 percent, which would make the company a majority player — dominating more than 50 percent — in retail. Needham estimated Amazon's 2016 market share in the American retail sector to be 34 percent, based on gross merchandise volume.

(Source: Needham & Co)

EBay, which Rice said is Amazon's closest competitor, has market share of 7.7 percent, followed by Wal-Mart with less than 5 percent. Jeff Bezos' behemoth of a company is seeing growth that far outpaces the overall e-commerce market, Needham said.

Amazon reached an all-time intraday high last Wednesday when the stock peaked at $923.72 per share. As of Monday's close, shares are up more than 50 percent over the past 12 months.

AMZN growth since its IPO

Source: FactSet