While President Donald Trump has chosen it as his latest Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) victim, e-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is gearing up for its third annual Prime Day, the company’s blockbuster online summer sale that honors the anniversary of its founding on July 16, 1995.
While Amazon has yet to announce a specific date, we can guess the sale is coming up soon. If you ask Alexa, the company’s smart speaker-based assistant, the answer you get is, “Prime Day 2017 is coming in mid-July. Check back for more information near the end of June or visit amazon.com/primeday.” And, last year, its Prime day sale was held on July 12, while in 2015, it was on July 15.
According to a Wednesday note from Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) analyst Lloyd Walmsley, investors are expecting a rally in Amazon shares. For instance, between the day that CEO Jeff Bezos and his team announced the first Prime Day through the actual sale in 2015, AMZN stock outperformed the S&P 500 by 6 percentage points.
Prime Day sales have been huge successes for Amazon. Last year’s sale marked the company’s top sales day up to that time, even surpassing all previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. This year, though, there have been rumors that Prime Day will last for 30 hours, instead of 24.
"Amazon is requiring retailers to hold greater inventory on hand this year to serve throughout the 30 hours, which could boost sales," Walmsley wrote, noting that the majority of growth seen during 2016’s Prime Day came from international markets like Germany and France. However, this expansion to 30 hours could help boost more growth in the U.S.
Walmsley suggests investors seek out an “attractive short-term opportunity” in Amazon stock over the next few days as the Prime Day announcement looms. Shares of AMZN are currently hovering around $986.20 per share in midday trading Wednesday, below the $1,000 a share high the company saw just a few weeks ago. The stock has gained over 30% year-to-date, and is up roughly 38% in the past 12 months.
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