Bank of America Securities analyst Justin Post maintained a Buy rating and raised his price forecast for Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) from $275 to $298 on Monday, citing accelerated growth in cloud and retail sectors.

Strong Projections for First Quarter Revenue and Profit

Post raised its first-quarter estimates for revenue to $178.4 billion and operating income to $21.4 billion, above the Street consensus of $177.1 billion and $20.7 billion, respectively.

He expects Amazon to outperform expectations primarily due to a projected $2 billion quarter-over-quarter increase in AWS revenue, double the $1 billion growth anticipated by other analysts.

For the full year 2026, he projects total revenue of $813 billion and GAAP operating profits of $100.6 billion.

Acceleration in AWS and North American Retail

Post projects that AWS growth will accelerate to 28%, driven largely by an estimated $1.3 billion quarterly contribution from Anthropic-related revenues.

In the retail sector, BofA credit and debit card data indicate that online spending accelerated by 3 percentage points quarter over quarter, leading Post to predict that North American Retail revenue could beat Street estimates by 1% to 2%.

He attributes these retail gains to faster delivery speeds, strong traction in groceries, and improved inventory placement.

Strategic Outlook on AI Returns and Capex

While Post notes that lower-margin AI revenues and higher energy costs pose risks to profit margins, he believes January layoffs and strong core pricing will provide a necessary offset.

He expects a stable-to-higher 2026 capital expenditure outlook, potentially exceeding $200 billion, driven by higher infrastructure costs and a recently expanded OpenAI capacity deal.

However, Post remains constructive on the stock, noting that CEO Andy Jassy expects the company to monetize much of its 2026 AI investments within 6 to 24 months.

AMZN Price Action: Amazon.com shares were down 1.62% at $246.50 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Image via Shutterstock