Tue Mar 04 15:50:00 UTC 2025: ## Amazon Remains a Strong Buy Despite Q4 Miss, Analyst Argues

**NEW YORK, March 1, 2025** – Despite a slight miss on Wall Street’s expectations for its fourth-quarter earnings, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) remains a compelling investment, according to a Motley Fool analysis. While some investors were disappointed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue falling slightly short of projections ($28.79 billion vs. $28.84 billion), the report highlights several reasons to hold or buy Amazon stock.

AWS, despite the minor shortfall, still boasts a 19% year-over-year revenue increase and commands 31% of the cloud computing market share, significantly ahead of competitors like Microsoft. This leadership position is expected to benefit greatly from the burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) cloud computing market, projected to reach $2 trillion globally by 2030, according to Goldman Sachs.

Amazon’s dominance extends beyond the cloud. It holds approximately 40% of the U.S. e-commerce market, far surpassing competitors like Walmart’s 7%. Further strengthening its position, Amazon’s improved delivery network saw a 65%+ increase in same-day or overnight Prime deliveries in Q4 2024, contributing to a 10% surge in North American sales and a 43% rise in operating income from that segment. This growth is expected to continue as e-commerce’s share of total retail sales is projected to climb from 16% to 20% by 2028.

The company’s advertising business is also flourishing, with ad sales reaching $17.3 billion in Q4 2024, a substantial increase from $12.6 billion in annual sales in 2019. Analysts estimate Amazon will capture approximately 15% of the digital advertising market this year.

The analyst concludes that while Amazon’s stock isn’t inexpensive (trading at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 32.3), its strong performance across core businesses and emerging sectors like advertising makes it a smart long-term investment. However, the article notes that Amazon was not included in The Motley Fool’s recent list of top 10 stocks to buy.

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