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Amazon Shares May Be Worth $3,000 in Two Years, Piper Says

Amazon Shares May Be Worth $3,000 in Two Years, Piper Says

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. shares can hit the $3,000-mark within the next two to three years, about 65% above where the stock is trading, according to analysts at Piper Jaffray. Shares are responding in kind, as the online-retailer rose more than 1% as of 9:38 a.m. in New York, outperforming the S&P 500 ahead of the holiday weekend.

“We have a high degree of confidence that Amazon shares can reach this level with no major acquisitions or other significant changes to the business,” analysts Michael J Olson and Yung Kim wrote in a note. Spinning off the rapidly growing Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud business would help to highlight the relatively low valuation placed on Amazon’s other businesses, they said. If Amazon hit that $3,000 mark, its market capitalization would be around $1.47 trillion.

If you strip out AWS, Amazon’s core retail business trades at a valuation below that of traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers. When valued like other e-commerce rivals, the company’s retail operations imply a potential upside of $500 billion, the analysts said.

Bullishness is a common trait among Amazon analysts. The company has 49 buy ratings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, with only one hold and one sell. The average 12-month price target is $2,231, which is a touch higher than Piper Jaffray’s $2,225 price target.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Unsted in London at sunsted@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, Monica Houston-Waesch

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