This Is Why Amazon Is an Unstoppable Beast
|
Version 0 of 1. This article originally appeared at 07:50 ET Friday on Real Money, our premium site for active traders. Click here to get great columns like this from Brian Sozzi and other writers even earlier in the trading day. Leave it to domestic diva Martha Stewart to perfectly capture the current story of Amazon (AMZN) . "Amazon is great," Stewart told me Thursday night at a launch event for her new wine of the month club. Stewart, who is the long-reigning queen of selling stuff in retail stores such as Macy's (M) (her retail empire began eons ago with Sears (SHLD) Kmart division), has recently taken her meal kits -- in concert with delivery partner Marley Spoon -- to Amazon Fresh. Prime members can order a meal and, depending on the time of day the order is placed, have the kit delivered the same day or next day. The service launched in New York, San Francisco, Dallas and Philadelphia, and Stewart says it's now in a total of seven cities. It's little anecdotes like this that explain where Amazon is right now. It's just damn great, simply firing on all cylinders, as we learned with the company's first quarter earnings report on Thursday. Profits in eight straight quarters, crushing those naysayers who are always looking for Amazon to badly miss earning as it invests in fullfillment. Earnings trounced Wall Street forecasts, likely sending future estimates through the roof in coming days. The company has 18 planes in service and up to 40 leases, as it tries to control its delivery network. Doing so over time will bring down costs. More bookstores and pop-up shops in malls are on the way. And, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, there are some 80 million Amazon Prime members who are willingly spending for convenience, instead of visiting a retail store. In short, Amazon is on a course to being worth a trillion dollars in our lifetime. "Amazon is likely to be one of the first trillion-dollar market cap companies; it's just a question of when, not if, in our view," Barclays analyst Ross Sandler wrote in a note earlier this month. "The retail business has a considerable moat, and the Prime flywheel and logistics and automation are just getting going," said Sandler, who also struck a bullish tone on the prospects for Amazon's cloud computing business. Couldn't agree me. All aboard. Read This Or Lose Out Why I really talked to Martha Stewart: Stewart is fresh off entering the wine market this month via the launch of Martha Stewart Wine Co. The venture aims to sell wine fans a collection of wines each month, personally picked by Stewart. They are then delivered straight to a person's house. Or, the wine could be purchased a la carte. Most of the wines are priced in the sweet spot of the market, under $20. Watch the video below, or else. Monster Beverage wants to steal female frap drinkers: Look out Starbucks (SBUX) , Monster Beverage (MNST) wants to steal your female drinkers of sugary, energy-providing frappes. "We're obviously looking at a brand that will probably appeal more to the female consumer," with a lower energy content and fewer calories, Monster's Chairman and CEO Rodney Sacks said at a beverage conference on Thursday, as TheStreet first reported. With the distribution power of Coca-Cola (KO) behind it, and a track record of product wins, don't think for a second Monster can't scale up a credible new drink that steals some female frappe fans. Judging by Starbucks' latest quarter, the last thing it needs is more competition. You probably sleep with your dog or cat: If you do sleep with your pet, chances are you are spending a good deal on premium pet food, TheStreet reports. One of the big winners from the humanization of pets trend is Blue Buffalo Pet Products (BUFF) . In this day in history: Fifty years ago today, legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali made international headlines for famously refusing to enter the Vietnam War, reminds USA Today. Being president isn't easy, go figure: President Trump doesn't sound like he is having a ton of fun in his new position. "I loved my previous life," Trump told Reuters in a new interview. "I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier." Trump also said he misses driving, which I could certainly appreciate. Here is the Ferrari formerly owned by Trump that recently sold at auction for $270,000. The sale price was seen as a disappointment. Jim Cramer and the AAP team hold a position in Starbucks for their Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells SBUX? Learn more now. Editor's Pick: Originally published April 28. Trending news on TheStreet: |