Price: $62 7/16
Estimates (Dec) 1998A 1999E 2000E
EPS: d$0.25 d$1.00 d$0.92
P/E: NM NM NM
EPS Change (YoY): NM NM
Consensus EPS: NA NA
(First Call: 18-May-1999)
Q3 EPS (Sep): d$0.08 d$0.28
Cash Flow/Share: NA NA NA
Price/Cash Flow: NM NM NM
Dividend Rate: Nil Nil Nil
Dividend Yield: Nil Nil Nil
Opinion & Financial Data
Investment Opinion: D-1-1-9
Mkt. Value / Shares Outstanding (mn): $20, 625 / 330
Book Value/Share (Jun-1999): $1.77
Price/Book Ratio: 35.3x
ROE 1999E Average: NA
LT Liability % of Capital: NA
Est. 5 Year EPS Growth: NA
Stock Data
52-Week Range: $110 5/8-$11 3/4
Symbol / Exchange: AMZN / OTC
Options: Phila
Institutional Ownership-Spectrum: 35.1%
Brokers Covering (First Call): 23
ML Industry Weightings & Ratings**
Strategy; Weighting Rel. to Mkt.:
Income: Underweight (07-Mar-1995)
Growth: Overweight (07-Mar-1995)
Income & Growth: Overweight (07-Mar-1995)
Capital Appreciation: In Line (28-Jan-1999)
Market Analysis; Technical Rating: Below Average (21-May-1999)
*Intermediate term opinion last changed on 09-Mar-1999.
**The views expressed are those of the macro department and do not
necessarily coincide with those of the Fundamental analyst.
For full investment opinion definitions, see footnotes.
Investment Highlights:
* Amazon.com announced the hiring of its new CFO
this morning?Warren Jenson, who was formerly
EVP and CFO at Delta Airlines. The plan to hire a
new CFO has been in the works for about four
months, and we believe Jenson?s hire will be a
positive for the company.
* According to Candace Browning, Merrill Lynch?s
airline analyst, Jenson is ?very competent,? ?very
financially disciplined,? and ?thrives on change.?
Prior to his two years at Delta, where Browning
reports that he ?did a great job,? Jenson was CFO
at NBC. Prior to that, he was manager of mergers
and acquisitions and director of investor relations
at General Electric.
* Amazon?s current CFO, Joy Covey, who has been
a significant asset to the company thus far in its
development, will assume the role of Chief Strategy
Officer.
* Amazon has always had a strong management
team. The company is no longer a start-up,
however: it will exit this year with six product
categories, 10 distribution centers, more than
15 million customers, and a $2 billion run-rate.
We therefore regard it as positive that
Amazon is augmenting its team with a highly
regarded alumni of Fortune 500 companies.
The pattern reminds us of that at AOL back
in the mid-1990s, when the company was
going through a challenging transition, and
people like Bob Pittman came aboard.
Bulletin
United States
Internet \ Electronic Commerce
7 September 1999
Henry Blodget
First Vice President
Daniel Good
Industry Analyst
Amazon.com
Strong New CFO ACCUMULATE*
Long Term
BUY Reason for Report: Company Update
Merrill Lynch & Co.
Global Securities Research & Economics Group
Global Fundamental Equity Research Department
RC#10125028
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Amazon.com
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