Amazon (AMZN) has confirmed that this past Cyber Monday was the company’s single biggest shopping day worldwide in its history, surpassing Prime Day for most products ordered. Meanwhile, DA Davidson analyst Tom Forte raised his price target on Amazon to $1,500, citing rising confidence in the company’s ability to leverage physical stores to maximize its long-term revenue growth. SALES RECORD: Amazon has announced that Cyber Monday was the single biggest shopping day worldwide in the company’s history, and the biggest day ever for small businesses and entrepreneurs selling on Amazon. “Amazon customers shopped at record levels during the Turkey 5, ordering hundreds of millions of products from toys to fashion to electronics and Amazon devices,” stated Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer. Throughout the five day period around the holiday, Amazon customers worldwide ordered at record levels, and Cyber Monday 2017 is now the single biggest shopping day in Amazon’s history, surpassing Prime Day 2017. Additionally, the e-commerce giant said that with new lower prices on turkeys and Prime members receiving an even deeper discount this year, Whole Foods Market in the U.S. broke its all-time record of turkeys sold during the Thanksgiving season. Amazon also announced its best-ever holiday shopping weekend for devices, with millions of Amazon devices sold between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Echo Dot and Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were not only the best-selling Amazon devices, but they were the best-selling products from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon.com. TARGET TO $1,500: While acknowledging that Amazon has reported record holiday sales, DA Davidson’s Forte told investors that he was focusing on the company’s physical store efforts and raising his price target on the shares to $1,500 from $1,300. The analyst believes Amazon’s increased physical footprint is “THE story of its 2017 holiday sales” and an indication of things to come as the company increasingly leverages physical stores to increase its revenue growth and wallet share. In the future, Forte believes the company will roll out its Amazon Go proprietary technology to enable consumers to skip the checkout counter for the portion of Whole Foods stores where consumers can purchase prepared foods, and consumers will be able to pick up online purchases and process returns at its Whole Foods locations. Additionally, the analyst told investors that he expects the e-commerce giant to leverage its Whole Foods locations with new efforts, such as an Amazon pharmacy, and sees the potential for Amazon to operate gas stations to enable consumers to save money on gas. Lastly, Forte noted that he looks for it to acquire an apparel retailer, such as lululemon (LULU), to add physical stores to advance its apparel sales, especially in women’s apparel. He reiterated a Buy rating on Amazon shares. PRICE ACTION: In afternoon trading, shares of Amazon have dropped almost 4% to $1,146.57 amid broader weakness in the Nasdaq and the Internet space.
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