Amazon.com: Nomura Bullish, But Says "More Transparent-cy Would Be Well Received"

In an equity research report published Thursday morning, Nomura analyst Robert Drbul commented on Amazon.com, Inc.’s AMZN operations, prospects and recent results. The specialist said “more transparent-cy would be well received,” but maintained his Buy rating and $410 target price for the stock, which currently trades around $303.50, up more than 2 percent before Thursday noon.

In the report, Nomura presented some of its estimates for the company. For the fourth quarter, they declared expecting a 13 percent YoY top-line growth, to $29 billion, with 20% increase in North America revenue, offset by slower growth (8 percent) in its International operations. EPS are projected at $0.70 for FY2014, and at $1.00 for FY2015.

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A look at the company’s results also revealed that it “outperformed its competitive set throughout the Holiday season, with sales increasing 26.9% vs. a 16.2% increase for the group.” On the flip side, sales growth in Japan seems to remain sluggish since the April tax hike.

The report also noted: “Importantly, the company’s ongoing investments in original content, including $100mn expensed in 3Q, appear to be paying off and look likely to provide longer-term rewards. We believe AWS growth remained strong after reaching almost 90% usage in both 2Q and 3Q. We expect FX to be at least a ~250bp headwind to sales for the company in the quarter, with roughly 14% of revenues generated in Germany, 10% in Japan, 10% in the UK, and an estimated 5% in China.”