Amazon Stock Edges Higher Monday: What's Going On?

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares are trading higher Monday after Morgan Stanley named the stock a top pick and raised its price target to $350 from $335. Amazon shares are trending higher. Why is AMZN stock advancing? Morgan Stanley Names Amazon a Top Pick, Raises Its Target to $350 and Lifts AWS Growth Forecasts In a note titled "Amazon to Top Pick and 5 Catalysts to Deliver Outperformance," Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak kept an Overweight rating and raised his price target to $350 from $335, about 40% above Friday’s $250.00 close. He sees a 3-to-1 risk-reward ratio, with a $220 bear case and a $410 bull case and bases the target on about 21 times his 2028 earnings per share estimate of roughly $16.50. His five catalysts are continued AWS growth, AWS margin beats, greater visibility into Bedrock, Amazon’s role in agentic shopping and robotics. He now expects AWS revenue to grow 47% in 2027 and 42% in 2028, up from 41% and 37%, after Nvidia indicated AWS expects to deploy 2 million GPUs in 2027 and 2028. "We continue to think AWS’s growth and profit runway is under-appreciated," Nowak wrote. Amazon Also Funds a 960 MW Nuclear Project in Indiana With X-energy and AEP Separately, X-Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XE) and American Electric Power Company Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) announced Monday a joint development agreement to advance feasibility work for a proposed 12-unit Xe-100 small modular reactor plant near the former Breed Generating Station in Sullivan County, Indiana. The project would provide 960 MW of power, and Amazon will provide development funding. It is the second commercial deployment under X-energy and Amazon’s collaboration to bring more than 5 GW of new nuclear capacity to the U.S. grid by 2039, joining Energy Northwest’s Cascade project in Washington State. "Together, we’re looking to develop nearly a gigawatt of carbon-free power for the regional grid and pay our full costs without passing them to others," said Josh Weissman, vice president of data center infrastructure capacity delivery at Amazon. Amazon Reports Third-Quarter Results Oct. 29 Amazon reports after the market closes on Oct. 29. Analysts estimate earnings per share of $1.96 and revenue of $202.21 billion. In the second quarter, Amazon reported earnings per share of $5.75, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82, with unrealized investment gains contributing, and revenue of $200.61 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $196.46 billion. It guided to third-quarter net sales of $197 billion to $202 billion. Read Also: Stock Market Today: Dow Futures Drop, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 Rise as Scott Bessent Links September Inflation to 'Energy Shock'— RCAT, ESLT, STLD in Focus (UPDATED) Amazon Shares Climb Higher AMZN Price Action: At the time of publication, Amazon shares are trading 2.08% higher at $255.19, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Image via Shutterstock