Cathie Wood Boosts Amazon Stake as Analysts Predict 32% Upside

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest boosted its Amazon (AMZN) stake by purchasing 16,550 shares worth approximately $4.1 million on October 2. The acquisition adds to ARK’s existing exposure to Amazon, which is heavily investing in AI and cloud computing. Amazon’s cloud unit, AWS, is seeing strong demand for AI compute, and the company plans to spend around $200 billion on capital investments by 2026, much of which will go toward AWS and data center expansion.

To manage costs related to its AI buildout, Amazon is reportedly considering a move to transfer about $8 billion worth of Nvidia (NVDA) chips into an external investment vehicle and lease them back. This strategy could help Amazon free up cash while maintaining access to essential AI hardware.

Wall Street analysts remain bullish on Amazon, with a Strong Buy consensus based on 39 Buy ratings and two Holds in the last three months. The average price target of $331.82 suggests a 32% upside from the current stock price. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski reiterated an Overweight rating and a $338 price target, citing strong AI demand as AWS prepares to raise GPU reserve prices by 15% on October 7. Another analyst, Scott Devitt of Rosenblatt, also maintained a Buy rating with a $360 target, highlighting Amazon’s adaptability to AI shopping tools and AWS’s projected growth above 45% by the end of 2026.