Admittedly, online retailer Amazon’s (AMZN) Amazon Prime service is not what it used to be. But it still represents a fairly rapid way to get things to customers. However, according to a CNBC report, Amazon Prime service also does not go everywhere you might expect, including to some neighborhoods in Washington, DC. Shareholders were unfazed, and sent shares climbing nearly 2% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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The report noted that Brian Schwalb, attorney general for the District of Columbia, called out Amazon for “secretly” cutting out two ZIP codes from the district that qualified for Amazon’s expedited delivery service. This actually connects to an incident back in 2022, when Amazon stopped sending its own delivery trucks to two D.C. ZIP codes over issues of safety. This meant slower delivery times for those two districts, despite the fact that they were paying Prime customers.
Amazon, for its part, denied the charges, with representative Kelly Nantel declaring them “categorically false.” Nantel noted that Amazon wants to “…deliver as fast as we possibly can…” but also “…must put the safety of delivery drivers first.” Amazon also noted that it apparently reached out to the attorney general’s office to “…reduce crime and improve safety in these areas.”
A New Warner Connection?
Meanwhile, there is new word of a possible new connection between Amazon and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), according to a Deadline report. The report noted that there are output deals for HBO running out in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany, and that might open up the potential for Amazon to step in and distribute Max service in said areas.
Trying to figure out HBO access in those areas, the report noted, has been a problem for Warner since 2020, when Warner first rolled out HBO Max. Since HBO was originally part of cable television operations, it fell under certain agreements that made it tougher to roll out a streaming equivalent. But with these running out, there is potential ahead for a major shake-up, particularly in those areas that were prevented from joining the rush to begin with.
Is Amazon a Good Long-Term Investment?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on AMZN stock based on 45 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 48.09% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AMZN price target of $239 per share implies 9.84% upside potential.
