A science fiction novel from way back in the mid-nineties, “Headcrash,” once described remote working—then called “telecommuting”—as “one of the great popular hoaxes of the late 20th century.” Now, we see that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is bucking the remote working trend and demanding workers return to the office for at least some time, a move that’s giving Amazon stock a little extra life in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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Amazon, via CEO Andy Jassy, made it about as clear as it could that remote work would not fly therein any longer. Jassy, in a meeting last month, noted that if employees were not willing to “disagree and commit,” it would “…probably not…work out for you at Amazon because we are going back to the office at least three days a week.” Why Jassy demanded three as opposed to the normal work week of five is unclear, but Jassy’s demand was clear enough. Further, why Jassy pivoted to a hard line of three days a week from his September 2022 stance of no plans to require anyone to return is even less clear.
The demand may be clear, but the motivation is much less so. Even with Amazon fractured between remote workers and in-house workers, earnings are a powerhouse. Analysts projected that Amazon would bring in $79.68 billion in revenue, but Amazon brought in $82.55 billion. Sales were up, cloud business was up, and Amazon should be laughing all the way to the bank instead of getting heavy-handed with the people who did the work to make those results happen. It certainly doesn’t help that 30,000 Amazon staffers filed a petition with Jassy to avoid such a stance, which Jassy rejected.
Regardless of this increasingly controversial situation, Amazon is still a winner with analysts. With 40 Buy ratings and one Hold, Amazon stock is rated as a Strong Buy. Further, with an average price target of $175.63, Amazon stock comes with 30.43% upside potential.
