JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has named e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) the best stock to buy as we head into the year-end holidays.
Analyst Doug Anmuth says online sales are likely to grow 7.5% year-over-year during the Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S., which includes the Black Friday and Cyber Monday events.
While sales this year are likely to be down from the 9.5% growth seen in 2023, online shopping is still expected to be strong this holiday season.
And Amazon is sure to be a top beneficiary of the online holiday sales, says Anmuth at JPMorgan Chase. He called Amazon the “best idea” among internet stocks.
In a research note ahead of U.S. Thanksgiving, Anmuth said that third party estimates suggest e-commerce sales will grow 7% to 10% for the entire year-end holidays that run from now through Jan. 1.
In October, Amazon announced plans to hire 250,000 seasonal workers for the year-end holidays. The company began running holiday promotions earlier than ever this autumn.
Amazon has also said that it expects online holiday shopping to grow 5% from last year and hit a record $240 billion U.S.
Looking past the holidays, Anmuth said that e-commerce sales as a share of total retail sales in the U.S. could nearly double from 22% today to 40% over the long-term, with Amazon a clear beneficiary of that rising trend.
The stock of Amazon has gained 37% so far this year and currently trades at $205.74 U.S. per share.