Amazon Pares the Equivalent of Target’s Market Cap in Plunge

(Bloomberg) -- The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Amazon.com Inc.’s shares plummeted as much as 8.1% Friday after the retail giant reported sales below analyst estimates for the first time since 2018.

That pared more than $130 billion from the company’s market capitalization, a figure that, if it were for a single company, would be larger than the market cap of 435 other members of the S&P 500 Index. The loss is about the equivalent of the entire market value of Target Corp.

David Spika, president of GuideStone Capital Management, which has about $18 billion in assets under management, attributed the decline to expectations put on the company as it saw revenues spike as consumers turned to online shopping during the pandemic and is indicative of expectations for earnings growth for the broader market becoming unrealistic.

“This rapid growth in earnings is already priced in and expectations are so high,” said Spika. “It’s all based on the fact that it didn’t exceed ridiculously lofty expectations. And that’s something I think people need to keep an eye on because expectations are very, very high today.”

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