Key Takeaways
- Bank of America maintained its Buy recommendation on Amazon with a $310 price objective after the Alexa for Shopping (AfS) debut
- The new AfS platform integrates Rufus and Alexa+, blending product intelligence with customized shopping data across multiple platforms
- Analyst Justin Post from BofA projects AfS could produce $215 billion in additional GMV through 2035, contributing $20 billion to retail earnings
- Rufus delivered close to $12 billion in annualized additional GMV during the fourth quarter of 2025
- Among 46 Wall Street analysts following AMZN, 45 recommend buying, with a consensus price objective of $319
Amazon (AMZN) has climbed approximately 16.31% so far this year as of May 22, significantly surpassing the SPY’s 8.92% increase during the identical timeframe.
Justin Post, an analyst at Bank of America, maintained his Buy recommendation on the shares with a $310 price objective. His valuation methodology employs a sum-of-the-parts framework: AWS valued at 9x 2027 revenue, first-party retail operations at 1.0x, third-party marketplace at 2.5x, and advertising business at 5.0x.
The analyst’s revised commentary followed Amazon’s May 13 introduction of Alexa for Shopping.
AfS represents a fusion of Rufus and Alexa+. Rufus, which debuted in February 2024, functions as an AI-powered shopping companion trained using Amazon’s extensive product database, customer feedback, and internet information.
Amazon reported that more than 300 million shoppers engaged with Rufus throughout 2025. Shoppers utilizing Rufus during their browsing sessions demonstrate a 60% higher likelihood of finalizing transactions, based on data Amazon disclosed in November 2025.
AfS enhances this foundation by incorporating the personalized capabilities of Alexa+. The technology operates seamlessly across Amazon’s Shopping application, website platform, and Echo Show hardware, supporting voice commands, touch interaction, or combined input methods.
Post outlined a self-reinforcing mechanism: enhanced personalization increases transaction completion rates, which boosts user interaction, which subsequently refines personalization capabilities.
He highlighted that Rufus produced approximately $12 billion in annualized additional GMV during Q4 2025 exclusively. Post’s projections indicate AfS might deliver $215 billion in extra GMV by 2035, equating to approximately $20 billion in additional retail profitability.
Cloud Computing and Investment Strategy
Post additionally referenced accelerating performance at AWS. He anticipates AI-related demand intensifying, with the cloud division gaining from improved profitability metrics and an expanding order backlog.
A noteworthy observation for analysts: Amazon maintained its annual capital expenditure forecast unchanged. Post interpreted this as an encouraging indicator, implying that recent AI partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI might already be incorporated within current spending allocations.
He also identified the forthcoming June Prime Day event as a short-term growth driver for the retail operations.
Potential Challenges
BofA identified several risk considerations. These encompass intensifying competition from traditional brick-and-mortar and regional merchants, possible market share erosion to cloud rivals deploying sophisticated AI technologies, and heightened AWS infrastructure requirements that might compress profit margins.
The research team also acknowledged Amazon’s historical pattern of significant stock volatility.
Across Wall Street more extensively, sentiment is overwhelmingly positive. Among the 46 analysts monitoring AMZN compiled by TipRanks, 45 assign it a Buy rating. Only one analyst maintains a Hold position. The consensus price objective stands at $319, suggesting approximately 19% appreciation potential from present trading levels.
Post’s $310 valuation falls marginally below the Street consensus, though his investment rationale aligns with the prevailing optimistic outlook: AWS expansion is gaining momentum again, AI-driven tools are enhancing the shopping ecosystem, and Amazon is managing capital deployment efficiently.
