Billionaire Cliff Asness’ 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential

4. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

AQR Capital Management’s Q4 Stake: $1.18 billion

Upside Potential as of April 26: 30.94%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 286

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a major technology company that runs the world’s largest e-commerce and cloud computing businesses. The company also offers digital streaming and AI technology. Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) e-commerce position offers it a significant competitive advantage over competitors since it accounts for around 38% of total e-commerce sales in the United States.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced solid financial performance in 2024, with revenue climbing 10% year-over-year and operating income of $21.2 billion, a 61% increase year-over-year . The North America segment rose 10%, while the International segment grew 9%. In addition, AWS maintained its strong performance, growing by 19% year-over-year to an annualized revenue run rate of $115 billion.

On April 24, Citizen JMP analysts maintained their Market Outperform rating and $240 price target for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). According to analyst Nicholas Jones, Amazon has invested around $2 billion per year in satellite launches since 2022, influencing the company’s operating income margin. According to Jones, these expenditures impacted Amazon’s consolidated operating income margin by 27 basis points in 2024.

Harding Loevner Global Developed Markets Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“During the quarter, we benefited from strong stocks within the Communication Services and Consumer Discretionary sectors. In Consumer Discretionary, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported strong third-quarter results. Revenue increased by double digits, led by growth in advertising and Al products, while the company’s operating margins also hit an all-time high of 11%. The key reasons for the higher margins were that its international e-commerce operations turned profitable, and there was faster growth in its high-margin cloud-computing business.”