Amazon (AMZN) stock is surging in pre-market trading Friday after Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett indicated his company is buying in.
Shares have leapt nearly $50 to the upside at pre-market highs, teetering on the cusp of crossing the $1 trillion market cap threshold yet again.
"One of the fellows in the office that manage money bought some Amazon so it will show up in the 13F" Buffett told CNBC on Thursday evening.
Real Money's Doug Kass welcomed the purchase, as the stock was one of his top ideas as the stock wallowed just over $1,300 per share in late December.
"Though the purchase was from one of The Oracle of Omaha's kids (either Todd Combs or Ted Weschler), Warren Buffett's imprimatur was bestowed on Amazon last night when it was revealed that Berkshire Hathaway has purchased shares in Amazon," he wrote in his Diary on Real Money Friday morning.
He recently detailed his long term bull case in a column for Real Money, outlining eight major factors.
"In the annals of U.S. corporate history there is no company that has as large and lengthy a runway of opportunity as Amazon," Kass wrote. "It is that prism of opportunity that supports my strong belief that Amazon's earnings growth will far exceed consensus expectations in the 2019-2022 period."
It appears that Berkshire is buying Kass' bull thesis.
Analysts have likewise indicated that there is plenty of runway ahead for the company that Jeff Bezos built.
"We are reiterating our "Buy" rating on AMZN and increasing our price target to $2,550 from $2,450 having updated our discounted cash flow analysis," D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte wrote in a note to clients last week.
He cited cloud computing and retail businesses as key growth engines that could be aided in the long term if the advertising business can pick up market share in the future.
Forte added that while one-day shipping was the key headline among news outlets catering to Amazon's large customer base, the real driver for share growth is continued strength in cloud after it charted over 41% growth in the first quarter.
"We see two potential catalysts for shares over the next 12-month period," he concluded. "Stronger than expected operating results from the company's cloud computing efforts, which we believe remains the primary driver of its share price, and its increasing mix of highly-profitable third-party sales."
If pre-market gains hold, Amazon could be on its way to marking the highest open in about seven months.
Whether or not it can reach the lofty heights Forte is putting forth remains to be seen, but when Warren Buffett bets there is growth still ahead...that's never a bad sign.
