Not One Analyst Rates Amazon a Sell. Is Wall Street Right?
Nearly every analyst loves Amazon, yet Jim Cramer calls big tech a millstone and the spending keeps climbing. One number in the next earnings report could decide whether the crowded bullish consensus holds or cracks.
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Wall Street has taken one side on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction). Of 60 listed analysts, all but two rate the stock Buy or better. None rate it Sell or Strong Sell. The consensus price target of $326.74 implies plenty of room to run and a share price at that level would be an all-time high. That is clearly a bullish signal.
24/7 Wall St. ran the same test on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in Not One Analyst Rates Microsoft a Sell. Is the Consensus View Right? Amazon gets the same scrutiny here.
What Bulls Are Paying For in AWS
The headline numbers from the third quarter missed estimates. GAAP EPS came in at $1.89 against a $1.96 estimate, and revenue of $201.94 billion compared with a $202.20 billion forecast. Analysts look past that because AWS revenue rose 39.3% to $46 billion. That was its sixth straight quarter of faster growth, and the AWS backlog reached $578 billion. Consolidated operating margin hit 13.9%, the highest in the company’s history.
Estimates keep increasing. The fiscal 2026 EPS consensus is $10.5805, compared with $10.4079 ninety days ago. Over the past 30 days, analysts made more upward revisions than downward ones. The fiscal 2027 estimate rose to $12.8122 from $12.3016 over 90 days. It has slid slightly from $12.9132 a week ago.
Cramer’s Millstone Case Against Megacap Tech
On the Mad Money episode that aired November 3, 2026, Jim Cramer included Amazon on his list of disappointing tech leaders: “For the last few years we’ve been conditioned to think that tech will be led by an Alphabet or an Amazon, Nvidia, a Meta, a Microsoft. But those have almost been millstones around investors.” He added: “I would like to wait for the crescendo before I commit too much money back to tech.”
The price data backs him up. Amazon has gained only 4.0% over one year and trades about 10% below its 52-week high of $287.20. Spending is also climbing. Cash capex reached $75.9 billion in the third quarter, the full-year 2026 figure is heading toward roughly $220 billion, and management expects to spend much more in 2027. As a result, the free cash flow yield is negative, at −0.44%.
Crowded Consensus Meets Split 13F Filings
When nearly every analyst already rates a stock a Buy, there are few upgrades left to push it higher. One miss can also trigger cuts across the whole group at once. The 13F filings show less agreement than the ratings do. Among 30 filers as of June 30, 2026, 15 added shares, seven cut, one opened a new position, and one sold. Coatue Management held a stake of $2.82 billion. D.E. Shaw and Appaloosa added shares, while Two Sigma, Point72, and Tiger Global cut back. These filings show positions on that quarter-end date only.
Verdict for Retail Investors
On fundamentals, the evidence favors the bulls. AWS growth is speeding up, margins hit a record, and estimates are rising. The stock trades above both its 50-day average of $253.79 and its 200-day average of $243.50, at a forward P/E of 23. Shares also rose 6.1% in the week after the earnings miss. Cramer is right about the past year’s returns and the cash being spent, but those concerns look backward.
Amazon’s fourth-quarter report will show which side is right. If AWS growth beats the third quarter’s 39.3%, that makes seven straight quarters of faster growth and supports the zero-Sell consensus. If AWS slows down while capex keeps rising, Cramer’s millstone argument gets much stronger. Investors should watch that one number closely.
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Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.
Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community.
Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.
Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions.
