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Fundamental View
AS OF 11 Aug 2023- We continue to have confidence in CEO Andy Jassy and the company’s long-term business for both AWS and consumer. The 2Q23 results support our view as AWS growth is stabilizing and the North America consumer segment significantly improved its GAAP operating profit. AWS customers are shifting from workload optimizations to new workload deployments, and we expect AWS to remain a profitable growth driver for the foreseeable future.
- We anticipate the North America segment to see continued profitability improvements driven by operating leverage, cost reductions, and productivity gains including the regionalization of its fulfillment network. Gross leverage declined by nearly 2 ticks to 0.8x or 1.6x on a lease-adjusted basis. Also, Amazon’s equity cushion is ~$1.4 tn.
Business Description
AS OF 11 Aug 2023- Amazon is an e-commerce company which sells a wide range of its own products and those of 3rd party sellers. Amazon offers fulfillment services for 3rd party sellers (FBA) and sells cloud computing services (AWS). In 2Q23, 3rd party units were 60% of total paid units, and FBA units are a majority of 3rd party units.
- In LTM 2Q23, NA segment was 62% of sales, International was 22% of sales, and AWS was 16% of sales.
- Amazon disclosed it surpassed 200 mn Prime members in April 2021. The annual membership was increased in February 2022 from $119 to $139 in the US, although fees vary by country. In mid-2019, Amazon Prime began to transition from 2-day to 1-day shipping. Amazon Prime also offers Prime Video, streaming music, and other benefits.
- In 2006, Amazon launched AWS which remains the leader in cloud computing (IaaS/PaaS). Amazon sells its own devices (e-reader, smart speaker, streaming media player, etc.).
Risk & Catalysts
AS OF 11 Aug 2023- We think Amazon has moderate event risk as its large size (~$1.4 tn market cap) provides a buffer against the regulatory risks.
- Amazon has taken steps to improve profitability including multiple rounds of layoffs which could preempt activist investor campaigns that have become more common lately for Big Tech including GOOGL and META.
- Amazon continues to face regulatory scrutiny. The FTC is finalizing a lawsuit alleging AMZN disadvantages third-party merchants who do not use its services. The biggest risk would be a breakup, although we view that as unlikely.
- Amazon’s $14 bn acquisition of Whole Foods has shown its proclivity for large M&A, although the regulatory environment could make large deals challenging e.g., FTC scrutiny on its $8.5 bn MGM acquisition.
- Amazon repurchased $6.0 bn shares in 1H22, which were the first buybacks in 10 years, although the company has not repurchased any shares since then.
Key Metrics
AS OF 11 Aug 2023$ mn | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | LTM 2Q23 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Revenue YoY % | 20.5% | 37.6% | 21.7% | 9.4% | 10.7% |
EBITDA | 43,394 | 57,284 | 71,994 | 74,593 | 87,648 |
EBITDA Margin | 15.5% | 14.8% | 15.3% | 14.5% | 16.3% |
CapEx % of Sales | 4.5% | 9.1% | 11.8% | 11.3% | 10.0% |
Sh. Ret. % of CFO-CapEx | 0% | 0% | 0% | (52%) | 0% |
Net Debt | (30,201) | (50,497) | (44,771) | 7,316 | 7,902 |
Gross Leverage | 0.6x | 0.6x | 0.7x | 1.0x | 0.8x |
EV / EBITDA | 20.8x | 28.3x | 23.3x | 11.7x | 15.6x |
CreditSights View
AS OF 21 Dec 2023We continue to have confidence in CEO Andy Jassy and the long-term business for both AWS and consumer. The 3Q23 results support our view as AWS growth has stabilized, AWS and North America both had record profits, and International nearly reached breakeven profitability. We expect AWS to remain a profitable growth driver for the foreseeable future, and the North America segment to see improved profitability driven by operating leverage, cost reductions, and productivity gains including the regionalization of its fulfillment network. We estimate gross leverage declined sharply to 0.6x or 1.4x on a lease-adjusted basis. We think Amazon should be able to address the FTC’s concerns with behavioral remedies and fines, and we view a breakup as unlikely.
Recommendation Reviewed: December 21, 2023
Recommendation Changed: December 21, 2023
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