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6 Things Moving Amazon Stock as Ackman Sticks With a $2B Position

Amazon shares were lower Tuesday as Wall Street weighed Pershing Square's stake, AWS growth, AI spending, and fresh valuation debate around AMZN.

By Damilola Esebame, CFEI® , Edited by Laura Hohenstein

Updated Aug. 25, 2026

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Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares traded at $260.53 in Tuesday afternoon trading, down -$1.54, or -0.59%, from the previous close of $262.07. If you're an AMZN shareholder trying to figure out where you stand financially after another choppy session, the intraday drift offers little in the way of a clean signal. The stock opened at $262.61, then turned negative as investors weighed fresh debate over Amazon's AI spending, AWS growth, and valuation.

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Shares drift lower

AMZN traded between $260.08 and $263.89 during the session. The stock's move kept attention on whether buyers would defend the lower end of the day's range after a modest pullback from the prior close.

The decline came as discussion around Amazon remained focused on its cloud and AI investments. Those businesses remain central to the case that Amazon can keep expanding beyond its core e-commerce base.

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Pershing stake draws attention

Pershing Square still held more than 8.56 million Amazon shares at the end of June, based on its latest 13F filing. A 13F is a quarterly disclosure large investment managers file with U.S. regulators to show many of their stock holdings.

The Amazon position was worth more than $2 billion and represented 10.5% of Pershing's equity portfolio. The firm had recently trimmed the stake as part of a portfolio reallocation, but Amazon remained a large disclosed position.

Retail growth is in focus

Amazon's retail operations posted 15% unit volume growth in the first quarter, according to The Motley Fool. The article said that was the company's highest growth rate for that measure since 2021.

The retail business remains important because it supports Amazon's broader ecosystem, from Prime memberships to advertising and logistics. The market is watching whether those operations can keep gaining share while management commits large sums to cloud infrastructure and AI.

AWS and AI carry debate

A 24/7 Wall St. analysis pointed to Amazon's July 30 second-quarter report, which it said showed revenue of $200.61 billion, up 19.62% from a year earlier. The same analysis cited AWS revenue growth of 37% to $42.23 billion and an AWS operating margin of 39.4%.

AWS is Amazon Web Services, the company's cloud-computing division. It rents computing power, storage, and data tools to businesses and is a major profit driver for Amazon.

The same analysis cited an AWS backlog of $496 billion. Backlog is contracted business that has not yet turned into recognized revenue. 24/7 Wall St. also published a 12-month Amazon price target of $340.77 and a buy rating with 90% confidence.

AI spending faces scrutiny

Daniel Schönberger's Seeking Alpha analysis kept Amazon at Hold and argued that its AI revenue is heavily reliant on Anthropic and OpenAI. The analysis described both companies as barely profitable and raised concerns about circular financing deals tied to AI demand.

Schönberger also flagged negative free cash flow, aggressive capital expenditures, and looming GPU replacement costs. Free cash flow is the money left after a company covers operating costs and major investments.

The issue matters because Amazon is spending heavily to build data centers, chips, and AI capacity. The market is weighing whether that spending will translate into durable cash generation or pressure near-term valuation.

Valuation views diverge

Simply Wall St.'s discounted cash flow model said Amazon traded at a 39.1% discount to intrinsic value based on the prior close of $262.07. A discounted cash flow model estimates a company's value by projecting future cash generation and translating it into today's dollars.

The same valuation work gave Amazon a score of 5 out of 6 across broader checks and listed a fair P/E ratio of 36.3 times, compared with a current 20.9 times. A P/E ratio compares a stock price with the company's earnings.

That valuation view sat on the other side of the debate from analysts focused on AI spending risks and free cash flow pressure.

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Bottom line

Amazon shares were lower in Tuesday afternoon trading even as recent commentary continued to highlight large cloud and AI opportunities. Market watchers are focused on whether AWS growth can offset concerns about AI-related spending and cash flow. For readers weighing whether to start investing in AMZN at current levels, that offset question sits at the center of the bull case.

The stock's next major test is whether Amazon can show that heavy infrastructure investment is producing profitable growth. Until then, valuation models, AWS demand, and AI spending remain the key points of focus around AMZN.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.

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