Amazon (AMZN) announced that it has bought 11 Boeing (BA) 767-300 planes from Delta Air Lines and WestJet to boost its in-house cargo airline fleet. This marks the online retail giant’s first-ever purchase of aircraft to expand its delivery network.
Amazon said that the purchase includes seven planes from Delta Air Lines (DAL) and the remaining four from WestJet. The four planes from WestJet will join the Amazon Air cargo network this year while aircraft bought from Delta will be added in 2022.
“Our goal is to continue delivering for customers across the U.S. in the way that they expect from Amazon, and purchasing our own aircraft is a natural next step toward that goal,” said Sarah Rhoads, Vice President of Amazon Global Air.”
The company stated that it will continue to rely upon third-party airline carriers to operate the newly purchased planes. (See AMZN stock analysis on TipRanks).
On Dec. 21, Monness analyst Brian White reiterated his Buy rating and a price target of $4,000 (24.3% upside potential) on the stock. In a note to investors, White wrote, “we believe the company’s growth path is very attractive across the e-commerce segment, AWS, digital media, advertising, Alexa and more. Also, we expect the COVID-19 to drive accelerated digital transformation, benefiting the company’s business model.”
Like White, the rest of the Street maintains a bullish outlook on the stock. The Strong Buy analyst consensus is based on 34 Buys and 1 Hold. With shares up over 71.7% over the past year, the average price target of $3,810.18 implies further upside potential of about 18.4% to current levels.
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