Amazon Nears All-Time High, in Apple’s Shadow

September 16, 2016 by Douglas A. McIntyre

As Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) surges back toward its all-time high due to the wild success of the new iPhone 7, Amazon has quietly reached its and lingers, ready to break out again.

In the past year, Amazon’s shares are up 42%, compared to 2% for Apple and 8% for the S&P 500. In a way, Apple’s stock success can be considered less than modest because of the sell-off of its shares a year ago. It has only returned to level.

The disappointment with Apple’s lack of revenue growth caused the market to lose faith. Amazon has not had any similar problem over the same period.

In the latest quarter, Amazon flexed its muscles, both in e-commerce and cloud computing:

Net sales increased 31% to $30.4 billion in the second quarter, compared with $23.2 billion in second quarter 2015. The favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on net sales was $166 million.

Operating income was $1.3 billion in the second quarter, compared with $464 million in second quarter 2015.

Net income was $857 million in the second quarter, or $1.78 per diluted share, compared with $92 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, in second quarter 2015.

Amazon Prime has been a success, both in making the shopping at Amazon “sticky” with free shipping and becoming dominant in the vast new world of video streaming.

Apple may dominate the news now, but side by side over the past year, Amazon is the winner.

Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)

Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.

Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.

Click here now to get started.