Company Update: Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Amazon seeks stake in digital mapping company with ties to self-driving car market

[at American City Business Journals] – Reuters reports that the Seattle tech giant is in talks with a group of German carmakers about acquiring a stake in digital mapping company Here. Amazon could offer cloud computing services to Here, which is owned by Audi, BMW and Mercedes, as part of such an agreement, Reuters said. The connection with Here also would give Amazon exposure to the nascent field of autonomous automobiles, which one day could figure into Amazon’s development of its delivery services. Read more on this. Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) , currently valued at $281.80B, opened this morning at $590.49. Today’s price range has been between $588.30 and $599.03 per share with a one year range of $369.36 to $696.44. AMZN shares are currently priced at 126.85x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 2.82x forward p/e ratio. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 37 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.58 per share, which would be $0.58 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.30 sequential decrease. In looking at the bigger picture, the full-year EPS estimate of $4.68 would be a $3.43 better when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $27.96 Billion. If realized, that would be a 23.06% increase over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Raymond James downgraded AMZN from Strong Buy to Outperform (Mar 22, 2016). Previously, Canaccord Genuity upgraded AMZN from Hold to Buy. Investors should keep in mind is that the average price target is $733.34, which is 24.19% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:AMZN) Similar Articles: Market Update: Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Amazon Echo Finally Gives Fitbit A Voice Company Update (NASDAQ:AMZN): Google Express vs. Amazon Prime Now (GOOG, AMZN) Market Update (NASDAQ:AMZN): Amazon Web Services Announces Amazon Lumberyard — A Free, Cross-Platform, 3D Game Engine Integrated with AWS and Twitch