Amazon (AMZN) is expanding its cloud infrastructure footprint into the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The tech giant has confirmed plans to open a new Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure region in the UAE, starting in the first half of 2022.
AWS Regions are comprised of Availability Zones, which place infrastructure in discrete geographic locations with sufficient distance to reduce the risk of a single event impacting the continuity of customers’ businesses.
The 3 new AWS Availability Zones in the UAE are expected to give customers more choice and flexibility when using cloud technologies. The new data centers will add to its 80 Availability Zones across 25 geographic regions. Amazon has already confirmed plans to launch 18 more Availability Zones and six more AWS regions. (See Amazon stock analysis on TipRanks)
“The new AWS Region supports the UAE’s focus on promoting technology innovation that has made it a thriving global hub for entrepreneurs, e-governments, and multi-national businesses. With the new region, organizations of all sizes will be able to innovate faster and serve end-users with even lower latency across the region,” said Peter DeSantis, SVP, AWS Global Infrastructure.
In other news, Reuters reports that the Washington, D.C. Attorney General (AG) has sued Amazon over claims of an antitrust violation. According to the AG, the company breached the law by requiring third-party sellers not to offer better deals elsewhere on the products listed in its store. The latest legal tussle in Washington adds to a wave of an antitrust lawsuits that allege Amazon's continued abuse of monopoly power.
BofA securities analyst Justin Post has reiterated a Buy rating on Amazon. According to the analyst, the much discussed MGM acquisition has the potential to boost the value of Prime Membership.
Post stated, “The $9bn potential acquisition of MGM would be Amazon’s largest investment in content thus far (and likely a higher price than others suitors would pay), but could be financially attractive if incorporating MGM content can drive more Prime memberships, justify a $5 per year Prime Subscriber fee increase in Western markets, or help ensure Prime remains a top-5 streaming platform in a consolidating industry.”
The analyst has a $4,360 price target on the stock, implying 34.36% upside potential to current levels.
Consensus among analysts on Wall Street is a Strong Buy based on 31 Buy ratings. The average analyst price target of $4,298.55 implies 31.90% upside potential to current levels.
AMZN scores a “Perfect 10” on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, suggesting it is likely to outperform market expectations.
Related News:
Tesla Sets up Data Center to Store EV Data in China – Report
ViewRay Sells MRIdian Radiation System to American Hospital in Istanbul
Coinbase Set Sights on Institutional Investors with Coinbase Prime
Germany recently bolstered its antitrust rules aimed at big tech companies, and now it has Google in its crosshairs. Google is the largest unit of the Alphabet (GOOGL) conglomerate that includes self-driving company Waymo and delivery drone maker Wing.
Germany’s antitrust regulator Bundeskartellamt has opened two investigations into Google. In the first case, the authority will examine the company’s market power. Under the enhanced big tech regulations, the authority can prohibit companies from engaging in anti-competitive practices. Google’s broad array of digital services makes the authority suspect it wields too much market power.
“An ecosystem which extends across various markets may be an indication that a company holds such a market position. It is often very difficult for other companies to challenge this position of power,” said Bundeskartellamt head Andreas Mundt.
In the second case, Bundeskartellamt is investigating Google’s data processing terms. The authority will seek to determine whether people using Google services have sufficient choice about how the company uses their data. That will include examining how Google’s advertising services collect people’s data from third-party platforms. Google’s advertising sales constitute the bulk of Alphabet’s revenue. (See Alphabet stock analysis on TipRanks)
Google joins Facebook (FB) and Amazon (AMZN) on the list of big tech companies facing probes under Germany’s new tougher antitrust rules.
Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet downgraded Alphabet's stock rating to a Hold with a price target of $2,415, which indicates 2.21% upside potential. The analyst is cautious about the prospects of Alphabet’s advertising business.
“Many investors believe ad intensity per dollar of economic activity is rising. We see little evidence of this,” noted Bazinet.
Consensus among analysts on Wall Street is a Strong Buy based on 26 Buy and 2 Hold ratings. The average analyst price target of $2,778.32 implies 17.58% upside potential to the current price.
GOOGL scores a 9 out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, implying the stock is likely to outperform the market.
Related News:
Alphabet’s Waymo Raising $4B Amid IPO Talks – Report
Alphabet Expands Its Shopify E-commerce Partnership
Alphabet’s Google Migrates Ilunion to Cloud in Record Time