Amazon stock split isn’t the most important part

Don’t overlook Amazon’s big $10 billion stock buyback announcement in the press release detailing a 20-for-1 stock split, pros say.

“The buyback story might be even more relevant here,” said John Hancock Investment Management co-chief investment strategist Emily Roland on Yahoo Finance Live. “The technology companies have taken it on the chin this year, meanwhile the fundamentals are there.”

Large companies such as Amazon (AMZN) are starting to take advantage of a huge amount of cash on their balance sheets and buy back their stock to highlight great fundamentals, Roland added.

In the case of Amazon, its stock is down 4% in the past year amid concerns about slowing profit growth. But the company’s buyback may signal it’s poised to slow down on its various investments to show investors better profits, which could help the stock price.

Shares of the e-commerce giant gained 5% on Thursday as traders cheered Amazon’s stock split and new buyback. The stock was the top trending ticker on the Yahoo Finance platform.

Amazon’s stock split is the fourth one in its history. The last split came in September 1999.

If shareholders approve of the split, it will begin trading on the new basis on June 6.

“Big tech stalwarts all saw massive strength during the pandemic and the stocks are now ripe for a split. Amazon is following the lead of Apple, Tesla, and Alphabet on the stock split path. These are smart moves as investors positively digest stock splits. We believe tech names are oversold as we seen in five years,” Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives told Yahoo Finance.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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