Retail exchange traded fund investors will be keeping an eye on Amazon (NasdaqGS: AMZN) Thursday as the online retail giant announce its fourth quarter earnings results.
A survey of analysts expects AMZN per share earnings of $1.63 on sales of $36 billion, reports JJ Kinahan for Forbes. The holiday fueled quarter has historically been one of the strongest periods for the e-commerce shop. The Street anticipates a surge in revenue, up 23% year-over-year on increased Prime membership.
“Amazon’s holiday trends looked strong, reinforcing our view that it will continue to disrupt the retail environment,” KeyBanc analyst Edward Yruma wrote in a note, according to The Street. “We think that holiday 2015 was a good one for Amazon given its focus on non-apparel goods.”
Moreover, the internet company has also been expanding its digital content and logistics, two key growth areas for the company, capitalizing on its Prime-centric strategy.
“Amazon is one of the most disruptive forces in retail and technology today,” KeyBanc’s Yruma added. “We think it will continue to take share and also benefit as total share accorded to e-commerce continues to grow. Amazon is one of our favorite long-term ideas.”
Amazon will announce fourth quarter earnings results after the bell Thursday, January 28.
As a retail giant, Amazon makes up a key component of broad consumer-related ETFs. For instance, AMZN is the largest component in the Market Vectors Retail ETF (NYSEArca: RTH), which includes the largest retail players in the space, making up 15.0% of the ETF’s portfolio. The broader Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLY) also includes a heft 10.6% tilt toward AMZN.
While Amazon is a consider a consumer retail business, the company is also a major tech player in the internet space. Consequently, ETF traders will also find the e-commerce giant among internet-related ETFs. AMZN makes up 10.3% of the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (NYSEArca: FDN) and 8.3% of PowerShares NASDAQ Internet Portfolio (NasdaqGS: PNQI). The two internet ETFs include a significant weight in consumer-related, internet retail companies. FDN holds 21.7% in consumer discretionary and PNQI has 35.0% internet & catalog retail.
Max Chen contributed to this article.