Should You Buy Amazon Stock in 2026?

Core Insights - Amazon has underperformed the stock market over the last five years, with the S&P 500 up 98% while Amazon's share price increased by only 40% [1] - Despite this, Amazon's underlying business remains strong, raising questions about whether the stock is undervalued and a potential buy for 2026 [2] Cloud Computing Performance - Amazon Web Services (AWS) has seen a recent acceleration in growth, with a year-over-year increase of 20% last quarter, reaching $33 billion in revenue [3] - AWS is highly profitable, generating $44 billion in trailing-12-month operating income, and is considered a durable growth segment for Amazon [4] E-commerce Growth - Amazon's North American retail sales grew 11% year over year last quarter, surpassing $100 billion [7] - Over the past 12 months, Amazon's e-commerce division generated significant revenue from advertising ($64 billion), third-party seller services ($166.8 billion), and subscriptions ($48 billion), totaling nearly $300 billion in annualized sales [7] - The e-commerce segment is expected to contribute to expanding profit margins in the future [7] Overall Assessment - The combination of accelerating cloud growth and steady e-commerce performance suggests that Amazon's stock may be undervalued, particularly if margin improvements are realized [8]