Analysts remain bullish on Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) ahead of this year’s Prime Day, with Bank of America saying the retail event could serve as both a sales catalyst and a major push to expand adoption of the company’s AI-powered shopping assistant, Alexa for Shopping.
Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating on Amazon and maintained a $310 price forecast, implying about 30.5% upside from the stock’s June 18 closing price of $237.50.
Prime Day Sales Outlook
The brokerage estimates Amazon’s four-day Prime Day event, scheduled for June 23-26, will generate approximately $21.6 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV), up about 5% year over year. It expects first-party GMV to reach $11.6 billion and third-party GMV to total $10 billion.
AI Shopping Strategy
Beyond sales, analysts view the event as a strategic opportunity for Amazon to increase awareness and engagement with Alexa for Shopping, its AI-powered shopping assistant.
According to Amazon, Alexa for Shopping can generate personalized deals and product recommendations based on a customer’s shopping history and preferences.
The assistant also lets users view up to 365 days of price history, set price alerts and enable automatic purchases once products reach their target prices.
Bank of America said these features could help Amazon increase customer engagement, improve conversion rates and protect direct traffic to its retail platform.
The brokerage estimates Alexa for Shopping could generate more than $200 billion in incremental GMV by 2035 and contribute more than $20 billion in additional retail profit over time.
Revenue Outlook
The firm also expects Amazon to report second-quarter revenue at or above the high end of its $199 billion guidance, citing strong retail spending trends through May and continued momentum at Amazon Web Services. It estimates Prime Day will contribute roughly $8.5 billion in incremental revenue during the quarter.
Long-Term Growth Drivers
Bank of America said Prime Day remains an important branding event that reinforces the value of Amazon Prime while helping the company gain online retail market share.
Although promotional activity could pressure margins, analysts believe Amazon can offset those costs through logistics efficiencies and stronger advertising revenue during the event.
Stock Performance
The firm noted that Amazon shares have gained an average of 2.2% in the week following Prime Day over the past five years, although annual performance has varied.
AMZN Price Action: Amazon.com stock was up 3.38% at $245.52 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
The stock is trading higher on Thursday as mega-cap growth stocks catch a bid in a tech-led risk-on tape. The Nasdaq is up 2.45% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.84%.
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