Can Buying Amazon Stock Today Set You Up for Life?

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) It’s been disappointing for investors lately. Its shares have gained just 34% over the past five years, significantly lagging… Standard & Poor’s 50090% returns.

But despite its modest revenues, there’s still a lot to like about what Amazon is doing now and where the company is headed. Here are some reasons why and whether the company is still a good long-term investment Amazon stock It can define you for life.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the leader Cloud computing company With a market share of 30%, compared to Microsoft20% and Google 13%. Microsoft has made some gains over Amazon over the past few years, but Amazon is making some pretty big investments in AI to stay on top.

Most recently, the company spent $34 billion in the second quarter on capital expenditures, mostly to expand its cloud business, and analysts estimate it could spend as much as $100 billion this year. The key to staying ahead in the AI ​​race right now is to invest a lot of money into building the most advanced data center infrastructure, and this spending could help Amazon get ahead of the competition.

And the money is likely well spent, considering that AWS had an operating margin of 33% and generated operating income of $10.2 billion in the second quarter. Not only that, but global AI cloud computing revenues are expected to reach $2 trillion by 2030, giving Amazon plenty of potential to expand further in this area.

Amazon has more competition in e-commerce than ever before, yet the company has maintained its dominant position. Amazon has a 40% e-commerce market share in the United States, while it is its competitor Walmart It takes only 13% and goal It barely registers at 2%.

Much of the company’s success comes from its Prime membership subscription, which gives members access to fast and free deliveries, video and music streaming, photo storage, and more. Latest estimates put Prime’s global membership at 240 million.

Prime members are important to the company because they spend an average of $1,170 a year on Amazon — more than twice what non-members spend, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Advertising is perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of Amazon’s business, but it has become increasingly important, with Amazon ad sales increasing 23% in the second quarter to $15.7 billion.

To put this into perspective, Amazon is the third largest advertising company in the United States alphabet and dead. The company will own an estimated 17% of the digital market next year, up from less than 11% in 2021. Given that U.S. digital ad sales will reach $429 billion by 2029, Amazon’s ability to successfully tap into this market may become increasingly important over the next few years.

Amazon stock has been a huge success for long-term investors, with gains of 2,800% over the past 15 years. But expecting similar results over the next decade or so may not be realistic.

However, this doesn’t mean you should avoid adding Amazon to your portfolio. Since Amazon is still the leader in cloud computing, its investments in AI are just getting started, and the company is already carving out a niche in advertising, Amazon still has a lot of potential to boost your portfolio in the coming years, even if it doesn’t set you up for life.

Have you ever felt like you’ve missed out on your most successful stock buying journey? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our team of expert analysts issues a “Double bottom” stock. Recommendation of companies they think are about to emerge. If you’re worried about missing your opportunity to actually invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. The numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: If you invested $1,000 when we doubled your money in 2009, You will have $475,040!*

• apple: If you invested $1,000 when we doubled your money in 2008, You will have $46,615!*

• Netflix: If you invested $1,000 when we doubled your money in 2004, You will have $657,979!*

Right now, we’re issuing “double” alerts for three amazing companiesAvailable upon joining Stock advisorThere may not be another opportunity like this anytime soon.

See the three stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of October 7, 2025

Chris Snow He has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Target, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long $395 January 2026 calls on Microsoft and short $405 January 2026 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has Disclosure policy.

Can Buying Amazon Stock Today Set You Up for Life? Originally published by The Motley Fool