Amazon, Lendistry Launch Community Lending Program; Street Says Buy

To help small and medium-sized businesses, Ecommerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) recently announced that it has joined hands with Lendistry, a technology-enabled small business lender, to launch a community lending program, Amazon Community Lending.

Following the news, shares of the company declined marginally to close at $3,339.44 in extended trade on Tuesday.

Under this program, small and medium-sized businesses will have access to short term loans of up to $100,000 at competitive and affordable rates. The rates will mostly range between 8% and 9.9%.

Notably, with this financing option, sellers can use the working capital to grow their businesses, efficiently manage their operations and expand their customer base.

The Vice-President of Amazon for Worldwide Consumer Trust and Partner Support, Dharmesh Mehta, said, “We are thrilled to launch the Amazon Community Lending pilot program in the U.S. to provide greater access to critical working capital and make the opportunity of selling in Amazon’s store more accessible to even more U.S. small businesses. Lendistry shares our commitment to championing underrepresented populations of business owners, knowing they often lack access to traditional methods of accessing capital and similar economic opportunities.” (See Amazon stock chart on TipRanks)

Recently, Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney reiterated a Buy rating on the stock. The analyst, however, raised the price target to $4,700 from $4,200, which implies upside potential of 40.6% from current levels.

Consensus among analysts is a Strong Buy based on 31 unanimous Buys. The average Amazon price target of $4,221.13 implies upside potential of 26.2% from current levels.

Amazon scores a “Perfect 10” on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock has strong potential to outperform market expectations. Shares of the company have gained 6.9% over the past year.