Will Amazon Surpass Walmart As The Largest Retailer? JPMorgan Thinks So

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Updated: Jun 17, 2021, 12:38 UTC

JPMorgan has recommended Amazon as a Buy as it believes the e-commerce giant will surpass Walmart to become the largest US retailer by next year.

Amazon’s 2020 growth makes it a Buy

One of the companies to experience huge growth during the pandemic is Amazon. The retail giant dominated the market thanks to its numerous delivery power. As such, JPMorgan now estimates that it would surpass Walmart to become the leading retailer in the United States by next year.

In its analysis of Amazon, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth reiterated that Amazon is one of the leading picks. He told clients Amazon could cross a major milestone next year and surpass Walmart to become the top retailer in the United States. As such, he rated Amazon as a Buy, with the stock currently trading at $3,376 per share.

AMZN chart. Source: FXEMPIRE

JPMorgan said, “The dramatic growth of e-commerce over the past 18 months has accelerated Amazon’s rise to dominance, and even the largest traditional retailer may soon fall behind.”

The prediction came after a stellar 2020 for Amazon, where its e-commerce business helped it catch up to Walmart in the US retail game. In 2019, Amazon had a 6.8% share of US retail sales while Walmart had an 8.9%. However, Amazon’s share jumped to 9.2% last year while Walmart went ahead to 9.3%.

Amazon’s rally came due to the pandemic, causing huge demand for e-commerce services. As of 2020, Amazon had a 51.2% share of e-commerce sales in the United States, while Walmart only had 5.6%.

AMZN dips despite positive analysis

Amazon’s stock (AMZN) is performing poorly at Tuesday’s pre-market trading session despite the Buy recommendation from JPMorgan. At the time of this report, AMZN is trading at $3,369.43, down by 0.43% in the pre-market trading session.

WMT chart. Source: FXEMPIRE

Walmart’s stock (WMT) isn’t fairing any better in the market. WMT is down by 0.50% over the past few hours, and it is currently trading at $139.86 per share.

Year-to-date, Amazon is the better performer. AMZN began the year trading at $3,340 and has added roughly $30 since then. Meanwhile, WMT’s price has declined year-to-date, from $144 to $139.