Amazon Upgraded on Kindle Prowess
Updated since 9:19am EST with analyst comment and stock price.
NEW YORK (
) --
lifts
Amazon
(AMZN) - Get Report
to a buy rating at Collins Stewart.
After a 10% slide in the stock in the past month, Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal upgraded the stock to a buy, citing the Kindle's strength in the all-important e-book sector.
Aggarwal estimates that Amazon will sell 3.85 million Kindles this year, and if true, that would show a profit of $650 million on $2.5 billion in sales.
|
The e-reader sector is starting to heat up. Last month,
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
introduced its
, last week
(GOOG) - Get Report
was rumored to be entering the race with a
"gPad"-friendly operating system
and this week,
Barnes and Noble
(BKS) - Get Report
is restocked with its nook e-reader device.
Amazon bulls say Kindle's dominance among e-books, while challenged by upstarts, will likely continue as the category takes off with consumers.
Call it an iTunes-like effect. Aggarwal says most of Amazon's $649 average Kindle related sales will come from digital books, media subscriptions and accessories. "Kindle revenue is not limited to unit shipment," Aggarwal says. Amazon will sell about $400 in products beyond the $259 Kindle price, Aggarwal estimates.
It also won't hurt that the Kindle is likely to be upgraded with a color screen soon, says Aggarwal, noting that the device represents up to 8% of total Amazon sales.
Last week,
The New York Times
reported that
technology.
Amazon shares rose $2.29, or 2%, to $119.68 in early trading Monday.
--Written by Scott Moritz in New York