Top tech analyst Mark Mahaney says this FAANG stock is at an ‘inflection point’ — and gives it 33% upside

Published Sun, Jul 31 20229:04 PM EDTUpdated Mon, Aug 1 202211:33 PM EDT

All five FAANG stocks have now reported earnings this quarter — and for Evercore ISI's Mark Mahaney, the worst is now firmly behind one of the tech giants. That stock is Amazon , which posted an overall loss of $2 billion for the quarter ended June. It was stung by a $3.9 billion loss on its Rivian investment, but saw revenue growth that beat expectations. "Amazon put in better-than-expected numbers for the June quarter and then issued a guide for the September quarter that was roughly in line," Mahaney, head of internet research at Evercore ISI , told CNBC "Street Signs Asia" on Friday. He highlighted that expectations were for Amazon to lower its guidance, however, given the risk of a global recession. "This company is all about consumer discretionary spend, and that must be weakening," he said. "[But] it didn't happen and, in fact, you've got an inflection point here at Amazon." Investors were cheered by Amazon's positive outlook, which pointed to still-resilient consumer demand and came despite a worsening outlook for U.S. consumer sentiment. It also gave Mahaney optimism that the worst is now over for Amazon, which he said is "executing really well." He predicts accelerating revenue growth for the second half of the year, and margin expansion in spite of inflationary headwinds. "They are rolling out really good product initiatives … They have sped up delivery and they have increased their in-stock inventory. I think that has increased their customer satisfaction and led Prime customers to purchase more," he added, flagging that the company had performed better than other retailers this quarter. Read more JPMorgan says growth stocks now look 'more interesting' — and picks names to buy the dip Wall Street pros think there’s more inflation pain ahead — and reveal how to trade it 'Churning out good cash': Analyst says a slowdown could boost these global stocks Amazon announced this week it is raising prices for its Prime subscription service in the U.K. and across Europe, following similar price hikes in the U.S. in February. The increase will see prices rise by up to 43% in Europe, higher than the nearly-20% hike in the U.S. Mahaney also pointed to continued growth in the company's cloud computing service Amazon Web Services, as well as its advertising business. "These are higher-margin businesses that are growing faster than the core retail business, which will have a wonderful impact on margins. This revenue mix shift towards higher margin and faster growing businesses [is positive]," he said. Overall, the tech sector is also beginning to look stronger, according to Mahaney. He noted that moderating expectations around inflation and interest hike rates has created an environment that is more favorable than it has been for the past six months. "I like the stock [Amazon] and I think it can continue to rally. There are a lot of things that have not gone right yet. We still haven't fully recovered in the markets, while margins for International is still weak. I think those are going to improve over the next 12 months. The fundamentals are going to get stronger so there's a lot more upside still for both the company and the stock," he added. In a note on Jul. 28, Mahaney raised his price target for Amazon to $180, representing a potential upside of about 33% to its price of nearly $135 on Jul. 29.