E-commerce spending ticked up in August despite concerns about tariffs — offering a positive signal for Amazon stock, according to an analyst. Shares of the e-commerce and cloud-computing giant were trading roughly flat Thursday.
Total e-commerce spending in the U.S. grew 8% year over year in August, accelerating from 7% growth a month earlier, according to aggregated credit card data from Bank of America. The data "sets the stage" for a solid Q3 for Amazon and other e-commerce stocks, BofA Securities analyst Justin Post said in a client note Thursday.
"For Amazon, (Wall) Street forecasts North America Retail growth of 10% year-over-year in Q3, slowing slightly from 11% in Q2," Post wrote. "However, quarter-to-date (Bank of America) card data suggests an acceleration over full quarter, so we think that Amazon U.S. retail is likely tracking above Street estimates."
Meanwhile, the penetration of online spending overall increased to 28.2% of all comparable U.S. retail purchases, according to the BofA data. That's up from 26.6% a month earlier.
The numbers from BofA come as new federal numbers show the consumer price index rose a slightly higher than expected 0.4% in August from a month earlier.
BofA's Post wrote that tariffs imposed on most imports to the U.S. are likely driving more customers to shop online, where they can more easily compare prices. He expects that trend to continue — with Amazon's scale providing it an advantage.
"We believe Amazon is well positioned relative to other retailers to gain share in Q3 and Q4 as the company forward deploys inventory and continues to drive shipping times down," Post wrote. He rates Amazon stock a buy with a price objective of 272.
Amazon Stock Testing 21-Day Line
On the stock market today, Amazon stock was up a fraction to 231.10 in recent action. Shares have been wavering near Amazon's 21-day moving average.
With a 1.5% gain Monday, Amazon stock briefly broke out beyond a flat base buy point of 236.53, according to IBD MarketSurge charts. But the stock pulled back with a 3% slide on Wednesday.
Amazon stock has gained 5% year to date, underperforming the S&P 500. Shares have been held back in part by concerns about tariffs raising prices on imported goods, as many of Amazon's products and sellers rely on Chinese manufacturers. Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in late July that the company has not seen an increase in prices.
Amazon also is battling cloud rivals Microsoft and Alphabet unit Google for AI-related business. Amazon's slide Wednesday coincided with Oracle's fiscal Q1 earnings report, which showed a huge jump in contracts for the database company's cloud business.
