Amazon is a favorite at Citi in good economic times and bad
4kodiak/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

Citi assumed coverage on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) with a Buy rating and added the stock to its focus list.
The firm views Amazon (AMZN) as one of the best positioned companies in its coverage universe across some of the largest Internet growth vectors.
Analyst Ronald Josey: "And while we acknowledge higher operating costs are likely to impact margins in the shorter-term given the rising cost of transportation, we believe Amazon should benefit from improved operational efficiencies at its new Fulfillment Centers, the closing of some of its physical retail locations, and the lapping of COVID-related labor shortages."
Josey and team forecast operating margins will expand for Amazon (AMZN) over the next few years with revenue growth seen being at a mid-teens clip.
Other positive factors include Amazon Prime continuing to evolve with higher pricing that can offset shipping costs, while AWS and Amazon Advertising are also seen as being in strong growth phases.
As far as the risk of an economic downturn, the firm thinks Amazon (AMZN) can carve out even more market share of consumer wallets as it has done in the past during rough economic periods. The AWS business is also noted to be a backdrop even for the Seattle tech giant even when consumer discretionary spending is off.
Citi assigned a price target of $4,100 on Amazon (AMZN).
Shares of Amazon (AMZN) fell 0.70% in premarket trading to $3,137.05 after Netflix's earnings report hung over all things streaming.