(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Associated Press)
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management built a new stake in Amazon.com Inc., calling it a “fantastic franchise” and noting that the investor acquired shares at an “extremely attractive” price.
Pershing Square bought the stock after it tumbled more than 30% earlier this year, the result of concerns over the generative AI boom and U.S. tariffs, Ryan Israel, the firm’s chief investment officer, said in a call with analysts May 22.
Amazon.com Inc. ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America, No. 12 on the TT100 list of the largest private carriers and No. 1 on the Top 50 global freight list.
“This was a uniquely attractive time as we felt that the company would be able to work through any slowdown” in its cloud business, Israel said. He added that Amazon is “well on its way” to continuing to deliver more than 20% earnings per share growth.
At a shareholder meeting May 22, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the online retailer hasn’t seen any meaningful reduction in consumer spending or increase in prices as a result of tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump this year.
Investors are carefully monitoring reports from U.S. retailers for signs of how shoppers and brands are responding to tariffs, which were as high as 145% on imports from China before Trump announced a 90-day pause to give time for negotiations.
Amazon executives said earlier this month that the company was bracing for the possibility that the escalating tariffs would create a more difficult business climate.
Shares of Amazon reached a 2025 peak on Feb. 4, when it closed at $242.06, and then tumbled 31% as of April 21. On May 22, the stock gained 1.4% to $203.97 at 2:47 p.m. in New York.
