Amazon (AMZN) continued its layoffs on Thursday when it cut about 100 jobs from its devices and services division. This headcount reduction is part of AMZN’s larger effort to reduce its management layers and cut costs. The initiative began under Amazon CEO Andy Jassy after he took over leadership of the e-commerce leader in 2021.
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It’s unclear which teams were affected by the Amazon layoffs. The devices and services division is home to several groups, including those behind the development of artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Alexa, Echo and Kindle devices, and Zoox self-driving cars.
An Amazon spokesperson told Reuters the job cuts were “part of our ongoing work to make our teams and programs operate more efficiently, and to better align with our product roadmap.” The spokesperson also noted that only “a small number of roles” were affected by the cuts.
Amazon Analyst Comments
In related news, Amazon got a reiterated Buy rating and $225 price target from five-star Citi analyst Ronald Josey. He highlighted the company’s Upfront advertising event earlier this week as a strong argument for investing in AMZN stock. During that event, Amazon revealed it has 300 million ad-supported viewers. The firm expects the company’s ad revenue to reach $66 billion this year.
Despite the layoffs and updated analyst coverage, AMZN stock was down 2.46% on Thursday. That extends the online retailer’s 6.51% share price decrease year-to-date.
Is AMZN Stock a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Amazon is Strong Buy, based on 47 Buy and one Hold ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average AMZN stock price target of $240.37, representing a potential 17.13% upside.
