Amazon posted a blowout quarter. Why the Street says this is only the start of the stock's strong run

Amazon.com posted impressive earnings results Wednesday , and Wall Street is betting that the print only marks the beginning of a much longer stretch of strength for the hyperscaler. The technology firm on Wednesday clocked $181.52 billion in revenue for the first quarter versus the $177.3 billion expected by analyst polled by LSEG. Earnings came in at $2.78 per share, topping the Street's consensus estimate of $1.64 per share. Amazon Web Services also accelerated to 28% quarter over quarter, largely due to its core workload shift and Trainium chip business that is gaining ground amid rising artificial intelligence demand. On top of that, the company also raised its forecast for second-quarter revenue to between $194 billion and $199 billion. Amazon shares initially popped more than 4% on Thursday before giving back that gain. "AMZN is adding the most AI capacity of any company over the next few years, and as the coming wave of Agentic AI products take form, all roads lead to AWS," Barclays analyst Ross Sandler said Thursday in a note to clients. The bank has an overweight rating on Amazon. It also raised its price target on shares to $330 from $300, suggesting 25% upside from Wednesday's close. The analyst's comment comes as Amazon races against other Big Tech companies to lead the AI industry amid its ongoing boom in the industry. …