Robin,
I have been thinking about shorting Amazon for weeks. I posted this urge some time back. I discussed it with my broker. My broker said bad idea and then called to say sorry the next day. I had the urge again Monday and didn't do it. I guess, I'm not cut out to sell short anymore. Perhaps this is a function of age. Maybe, the long term Bull market has killed my nerve or sense of adventure. Hmm, what do permanent Bulls do in a Bear market? Buy bonds and hide?
NW
It's bears vs. bulls in tug of war over Amazon.com
Online retailer Amazon.com also failed to participate in Tuesday's
bounce after two analysts gave differing viewpoints on the
Wal-Mart wannabe. Merrill Lynch's Jon Cohen started coverage of
the stock with a highly unflattering short-term "reduce" and
long-term "neutral." Cohen wrote in his report that he likes
Amazon's long-term opportunity but said the stock must "suffer
substantial share-price declines before there exists any
meaningful relationship between its market capitalization and its
operating prospects.
Cohen also noted that Amazon will face greater competition in the
coming months, especially in the book-retailing arena. Of the four
factors that matter for customers when shopping for books --
selection, convenience, price and service -- Cohen said only
service is not "subject to rapid commoditization in an online
environment."
Cohen said Amazon's stock has benefited from the continued love of
other sell-side analysts. One such show of support came from
Everen Securities, which raised the stock's rating to "outperform"
from "underperform." Analyst Tony Blenk called Amazon "expensive"
and "volatile" but upped his six-month price target for Amazon to
98 from 42 and his 18-month target to 104 from 45. The news of
Blenk's rating upgrade temporarily boosted Amazon's stock, but it
appears Cohen's argument eventually won out. |
