Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Quality Value Investing Research Report | $AMZN Updated Coverage | September 2025
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When referencing this research report, consult your Quality Value Investing (QVI) Glossary of Investing Terms, Metric Targets, and Research Report Format Guide. Unless otherwise noted, all data are as of the market close on September 15, 2025, and are for illustration purposes only.
In this updated coverage QVI Research Report, we’ll reassess the QVI Real-Time Stock Picks consumer discretionary sector holding, Amazon.com, Inc., to determine if it still meets the criteria of Quality Value Investing based on our checklist of the company’s current wealth and the share price’s present value.
Amazon: Company Current Wealth
Value Proposition
Amazon AMZN 0.00%↑ is a large-cap stock in the consumer discretionary sector’s broadline retail industry and does not pay dividends. It was added to the QVI Real-Time Stock Picks on March 7, 2022, at a $137.45 cost basis per share, adjusted for a 20-to-1 stock split.
Amazon.com, Inc. engages in the retail sale of consumer products, advertising, and subscription services through online and brick-and-mortar stores across North America and globally. The company operates via three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It also designs and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TVs, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero; and creates and streams media content. Amazon was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA.
Economic Moat
Morningstar rates Amazon with a wide moat, emphasizing the company’s network effects, cost advantages, intangible assets, and switching costs.
QVI’s Value Proposition Elevator Pitch for AMZN:
Amazon maintains its dominance in the retail market, with an increasing reliance on AWS by businesses, Prime by consumers and small businesses, and KDP by authors and book buyers.
QVI’s value proposition rating for Amazon: Bullish.
Returns on Management
Revenue Growth and Profit Margins
As illustrated in the research checklist table below, Amazon’s trailing five-year annualized revenue growth was in the double digits. The company’s topline growth was +10.90% for the most recent twelve months.
Further down the income statement, Amazon’s positive net profit margin was in the low double digits, driven by the characteristic retail gross margin from cost of goods sold.
Returns on Equity and Invested Capital
Amazon’s senior management achieved a double-digit return on equity, or ROE, exceeding QVI’s targeted threshold.
Stock buybacks can boost ROE. Although the company's $10 billion buyback authorization from March 2022 remains in effect, it has not been fully executed. However, the program doesn’t have a fixed expiration date. The last time Amazon repurchased shares was in the second quarter of 2022, when it bought back $3 billion of its stock.
Amazon’s return on invested capital (ROIC) was above QVI’s threshold. However, AMZN’s ROIC barely exceeded its weighted average cost of capital, or WACC, indicating that its senior executives may be facing challenges with capital allocation.
Owners’ Earnings
In a further test of management effectiveness, the five-year trailing current wealth of owners’ earnings for Amazon, which is calculated as EPS growth plus dividend rate growth, provided an excellent return for shareholders. Additionally, since Amazon does not pay dividends, the owners’ earnings reflect only EPS growth.
QVI’s business fundamentals rating for Amazon: Bullish.
Next, we’ll analyze the company's enterprise downsize risks, the stock price’s present value, including shareholder yields, valuation multiples, and share price downside risks, concluding with the investment thesis, all exclusive to Quality Value Investing’s premium (paying) subscribers.
