Amazon posted its biggest one-day gain ever, a day after Facebook owner Meta Platforms suffered the worst stock market value loss in U.S. corporate history.

Shares of the online retail and cloud computing giant surged 13.5% after its blowout quarterly report on Friday, adding about $190 billion to its market value by the close of trading.

That beat Apple’s record $181 billion one-day gain on Jan. 28, after the iPhone maker released its own blockbuster quarterly report, according to Refinitiv data.

Amazon is now worth about $1.6 trillion. Shares of Meta Platforms fell 0.3% on Friday, with a market value of about $660 billion.

Shares rose late Thursday after the company reported a better-than-expected profit and said it would raise annual subscription prices for U.S. Prime members by 17%.

Amazon’s surge came a day after Meta Platforms’ stock tumbled more than $200 billion in market value, the biggest one-day loss for a U.S. company, after the social media giant issued a dismal forecast.

“After battling post-lockdown blues in 2021, we believe Amazon’s fortunes have the potential to improve as 2022 unfolds,” Monness Crespi Hardt analyst Brian White wrote in a research note. One of the biggest beneficiaries of digital transformation is uniquely positioned to emerge from this crisis.”

Retail investors appear to have taken advantage of Amazon’s gains to take profits. Amazon was the most-traded stock among its customers on Friday, with sell orders outnumbering buy orders by more than 2 to 1, according to data on Fidelity’s website.

Amazon’s growth in value has outstripped the market capitalization of companies including AT&T Inc, Morgan Stanley and Netflix Inc.

Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet Inc remain the most valuable companies on Wall Street, with market capitalizations of $2.8 trillion, $2.3 trillion and $1.9 trillion, respectively, according to Refinitiv data.

Shares of Amazon are still down about 15% from a record close of $3,731.41 set in July.

Complete News Source : Business Standard