
NASDAQ:AMZN
The company is phenomenal. With drones, etc., they are on the leading edge of distribution. From a logistical distribution standpoint you won’t find anything better. Part of the problem is that it is run like a private company. The most recent quarter was a big earnings miss, hence the pullback. It has been subject to moderate negative earnings revisions, which is never a good thing. On a long-term basis, it is still a very attractive place to be, but you can’t count on it on a quarter to quarter basis. Doesn’t make the cut for him because it is too volatile.
You have to believe in the greater concept that Amazon is trying to achieve. They can make money if they want to, but is probably positioned not to give you a lot of earnings or dividends for a long time. A lot of the money goes back into developing and growing the business. The Cloud business is doing incredibly well and the retail business continues to grow taking market share away from the big box players. The company has changed the way people think about retail and will continue to do so. Expects they will continue to grab market share away from a lot of stores. When you see big Down moves in the stock, that is the time to try and buy it.
A great company, but you have to be able to stomach some volatility. They are really taking over the retail space. When looking at some of the retail stores, you can see this company is having a major impact on them. As the consumer matures online, they are more likely to go and buy other things then what they would have before. This has a high valuation and is incredibly expensive, and he would probably buy it on a pullback.
This doesn’t fall into a traditional valuation metric. They have shown incredible independence in reinvesting in their business, to the point where basically they have very little free cash flow at the end of the investment cycle. Earnings are very muted. This is not struggling for cash flow. They have lots, but they just spend it. Their CapX budget is huge. They have become a major force and are now expanding into content and doing some great things. Just isn’t enough visibility and transparency for him to make a commitment.
Chart shows the company has had a very, very strong upward move this year. It is currently in the period of seasonal strength, which normally lasts until about the beginning of January. This is a key stock in the retail merchandising side. Because it is e-commerce, he is looking for strong growth over the Christmas season.
One of those amazing names where value managers would never buy it. It has strong revenue growth. His attitude is that when you have strong revenue growth, it can solve a lot of problems. If he owned, he would probably be shaving it down. Eventually the advances will be over, but it is not over yet.
Wal-Mart (WMT-N) or Amazon.com (AMZN-Q)? 900 PE ratio. The reason this one has a sky high PE is because they don’t have any earnings at the moment. Of the 2, this would be his preference. This is one of his favourite names. One of the best moves he has ever done is moving away from old retail to new retail. Visionary management.
That trades at 116X PE, and forward PE of 72 times. This defies fundamental logic in terms of the way its stock price trades. The market does not attribute its earnings, but its ability to grow, based on its volume growth. Based on that, this could be the right time to purchase it. The most recent quarterly results showed a 43% growth in its web services and 53% growth in its prime memberships. Already 20%-25% of all US households are fee paying members.