This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
Warren Buffett held over $327 billion in equity securities through Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the second quarter, and more than half of that sum was invested in just three companies: Apple, Bank of America, and Coca-Cola, all of which have been huge winners for Buffett. But certain Wall Street analysts see a lot of upside for some of Berkshire's smaller holdings.
For instance, John Blackledge of Cowen Group has a price target of $215 per share on Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), which implies 91% upside from its current price. Similarly, Keith Weiss of Morgan Stanley has a price target of $274 per share on Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), which implies 80% upside from its current price.
Of course, investors should never put too much weight on Wall Street's near-term price targets, but both of these Warren Buffett stocks are still worth buying today. Here's why.
Amazon: Retail, cloud computing, and digital advertising
High inflation has hit many retailers hard in the past year, and Amazon is no exception. The rising cost of fuel and labor, compounded by continued investments in fulfillment infrastructure, have weighed heavily on its financial performance. In fact, Amazon has now posted a GAAP loss for two consecutive quarters. But its struggles are the result of temporary macroeconomic headwinds, not a broken investment thesis. The future still looks very bright for Amazon.
Global retail e-commerce sales are expected to increase at 10% per year to reach $7.4 trillion by 2025, according to eMarketer, and Amazon is the most popular online marketplace in the world as measured by monthly visitors. That significant scale is the foundation of a powerful network effect. Specifically, sellers naturally gravitate to the most popular marketplace, and that tends to bring more buyers to the platform, creating a virtuous cycle. That should keep Amazon on the leading edge of the e-commerce industry for years to come.
Additionally, cloud computing spending is expected to grow faster than 15% per year to surpass $1.5 trillion by 2030, according to Grand View Research, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) led the cloud infrastructure space with 34% market share in the second quarter. Better yet, research company Gartner says AWS has consistently positioned itself as the innovation leader, and that attribute should keep it ahead of the competition for years to come.
Finally, global digital ad spend is expected to climb at 10% per year to reach $876 billion by 2026, according to eMarketer, and Amazon has quietly become an advertising powerhouse. In fact, it is the fourth-largest digital advertiser in the world, behind Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Alibaba. That success stems primarily from the popularity of its online marketplace, though its streaming platform (Amazon Fire TV) has also played a role. In both cases, investors have good reason to believe Amazon will retain its strong market position, meaning the company is well-positioned to gain ground in digital advertising.
Shares currently trade at 2.4 times sales, a bargain compared to the three-year average of 3.8 times sales. Investors should jump on this opportunity and buy a few shares of this Warren Buffet stock. That said, 91% upside in the near term may be a bit optimistic, especially in the current macroeconomic environment.
Snowflake: Big data analytics
Snowflake helps businesses harness the power of big data. Its platform supports a range of workloads that would otherwise require multiple point solutions, including data ingestion, transformation, storage, and analytics. The Snowflake Data Cloud also enables customers to share data across their organizations, and it includes developer tools that simplify the building of data-intensive applications. That broad utility gives Snowflake an edge over other vendors.
Additionally, Snowflake offers industry-specific versions of its Data Cloud. For example, its Financial Services Data Cloud includes data sets and solutions tailored to financial service providers, and it has seen adoption by companies like Block and Mastercard. That portion of Snowflake's go-to-market strategy reduces friction for customers and accelerates time to value, and it has helped drive demand.
Snowflake increased its customer count 36% to 6,808 over the past year, and the average customer upped their spending by 71% during that time. In turn, revenue soared 92% to $1.6 billion, and the company generated positive free cash flow of $293 million, up from a loss of $43 million in the prior year.
Going forward, Snowflake puts its market opportunity at $248 billion by 2026, and given its strong financial track record investors have good reason to be bullish. Shares currently trade at 29.2 times sales -- not a cheap valuation by any means, but still a discount to the average of 86.6 times sales since Snowflake went public in 2020. That creates a buying opportunity for risk-tolerant investors, though I would keep your position small (no more than 2% of a portfolio) at the present time, and I certainly wouldn't count on 57% in the near term.
This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
