Amazon Delays Prime Day- This Time Until October

E-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) has again delayed its popular Prime Day event, according to a report from Business Insider. The extremely lucrative discount shopping event will now take place in October, according to the report, which cites Covid-19 uncertainty as the reason for the delay.

Indeed, Amazon had already delayed Prime Day from its usual date in July, to August (according to Reuters), and then subsequently to September (as per the Wall Street Journal). Reuters also quoted internal meeting notes stating that the delay could cause a $300 million impact “worst case” scenario from excess stock sold at discount, with a $100 million hit more likely.

Previously Amazon revealed that merchants contributed to $2 billion in sales during 2019’s 48-hour Prime Day across 18 countries. Back in March, Amazon focused on shipping only essential items, but opened back up to shipping nonessential items in mid-April.

Shares in Amazon have rallied an impressive 56% year-to-date, and analysts have a bullish Strong Buy consensus on the stock’s outlook. That’s with an average analyst price target of $2,841. Due to the recent rally, this now indicates downside potential of 2%.

Monness’ Brian White — Amazon’s biggest bull on Wall Street — believes the company provides “key capabilities, vast global infrastructure and financial strength necessary to support the needs of people and organizations around the world, while also positioning the company as a major beneficiary of accelerated digital transformation.”

According to the analyst, it “will be ushered in with the aftermath of this pandemic, driving greater use of ecommerce, the cloud and emerging tech.”

He has a buy rating on the stock and Street-high price target of $3,500 (21% upside potential). (See Amazon’s stock analysis on TipRanks).

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