Amazon rallies after research firm predicts upbeat retail sales

Amazon's stock rallied to its highest in more than two months on Friday after a research firm predicted the online heavyweight's retail business in North America is set beat Wall Street's estimates.

Amazon's shares climbed 3.6% to $107.44, their highest since Feb. 3, giving the Seattle company a stock market value of $1.1 trillion.

Data compiled by YipitData suggests Amazon's March-quarter North American net sales will beat analysts' expectations, and that April sales are also trending ahead of Wall Street's consensus for the second quarter, the research firm told Reuters in an email.

North American net sales account for more than half of Amazon's overall revenues, with international and Amazon Web Services, or AWS, making up the rest.

With Amazon set to report its first-quarter results on Thursday next week, analysts on average see the company's North American net sales climbing 8.5% year over year to $75.2 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
New York-based YipitData aggregates and analyzes data that track the behavior of millions of U.S. consumers, including email receipts, online transactions, app data and web traffic.

JPMorgan analyst Dough Anmuth wrote in a research note on Friday that e-commerce trends were likely "muted" in the first quarter as economic uncertainty impacted consumer spending.

But Anmuth said he expects e-commerce to make more gains over traditional retailers, penetrating further into groceries, appliances and other categories. He maintained Amazon's stock as "our Best Idea".

Also on Thursday, Amazon defeated a private lawsuit in Seattle federal court that accused it of a scheme to curb competition for shipping and fulfillment services, causing consumers to pay more for purchases in violation of U.S. antitrust law.

With Friday's gains, Amazon has recovered more than 30% from its closing low in December. It remains down 42% from its record high close in July 2021.