Amazon stock breaks below 2020 low for the first time, heads for worst year since dot-com bust

Amazon shares are down nearly 50% so far this year, at 49.7%, while the S&P 500 has declined 18.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-1.05%
has fallen 8.2%. It would be Amazon’s second-worst year on record, behind only the dot-com-bust year of 2000, when Amazon stock declined 79.6%.

Amazon is headed for a loss on the year after putting up profit of nearly $55 billion collectively in 2020 and 2021, though it would be on course for profit without accounting for losses stemming from its investment in Rivian Automotive Inc.
RIVN,
-6.18%.
Revenue growth has also slowed tremendously this year, and Amazon has begun trimming costs and its workforce after years of phenomenal increases.

Amazon’s e-commerce business is expected to produce roughly flat revenue in 2022 from 2021, as a boom in online sales during the first two years of the pandemic flattens out. The company’s cloud-computing division — Amazon Web Services, or AWS — has exhibited a slowdown in revenue growth as well, while continuing to provide the majority of Amazon’s operating profit.

Amazon stock ended the day with a market capitalization slightly shy of $855 billion, after falling out of the trillion-dollar club early last month. Only three public U.S. companies are currently worth more than a trillion dollars — Apple Inc.
AAPL,
-2.38%,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
-2.55%
and Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
-2.03%
 
GOOG,
-2.20%

Wall Street is still bullish on Amazon’s chances to reverse its slide, however. Out of 54 analysts tracked by FactSet, 49 have the equivalent of a “buy” rating on the stock, with four “hold” ratings and a single “sell.” Analysts’ average target price as of Thursday was $134.64, according to FactSet, more than 60% higher than the going rate.