Analyst Explains Why He Likes Amazon.com (AMZN) Despite It Being a ‘Laggard’

Core Viewpoint - Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is currently facing challenges in its stock performance, particularly in comparison to other tech stocks, due to tariff-related issues and a slowdown in its AWS cloud business growth [1][2]. Group 1: Stock Performance - Amazon shares have decreased by 3% and have underperformed compared to major tech stocks [1]. - The company's AWS growth rate has slowed to 17.5% in the second quarter, which is lower than competitors like Microsoft Azure (26%) and Google Cloud (32%) [1][2]. Group 2: Market Dynamics - The cloud market is experiencing a structural shift towards AI-first platforms, which are preferred by companies for their integration with generative models [2]. - AWS has traditionally focused on infrastructure as a service (IaaS), but the current trend favors platforms that offer stronger AI capabilities [2]. Group 3: Investment Sentiment - Mairs & Power Balanced Fund initiated a new position in Amazon during the second quarter, citing the company's potential to capture market share in retail and grow its cloud business [3]. - The fund capitalized on stock weakness due to tariff news and market decline, although it believes that some AI stocks may offer higher returns with lower risk [3].