Part 1: The Company I Can Never Quite Talk Myself Out of Buying

Every few years, Wall Street falls into the same trap.

It discovers a new technology, gets wildly excited about it, bids every related stock into the stratosphere, and then suddenly develops the attention span of a goldfish. The narrative changes almost overnight. Yesterday's revolutionary company becomes today's "overvalued dinosaur," and investors begin asking whether the best days are already behind it.

I've watched this movie more times than I can count.

It happened with personal computers.

It happened with smartphones.

It happened with cloud computing.

Now it's happening with artificial intelligence.

And somehow, Amazon always finds itself standing in the middle of the argument.

The company is either too expensive, spending too much money, investing too aggressively, or supposedly losing its edge. Then a few years pass, Amazon reports another monster quarter, expands into another industry, and everyone acts surprised—as if they've forgotten this is exactly what Amazon has done for nearly three decades.

That's why I keep coming back to the same question.

Is Amazon still one of the best long-term tech stocks?

After digging through the business, the financials, and where management appears to be taking the company, my answer is surprisingly simple.

Yes.

But probably not for the reason most people think.

Amazon Isn't Really an Online Store Anymore

One of the biggest mistakes I see investors make is assuming Amazon is primarily an e-commerce company.

That's like calling Apple a phone manufacturer.

Technically it's true.

Practically it's misleading.

Amazon has quietly evolved into something much larger.

It's a logistics company.

It's a cloud computing company.

It's an advertising company.

It's an AI infrastructure company.

It's a streaming company.

It's a robotics company.

And yes...

It also happens to sell millions of products every day.

That diversification matters because every one of those businesses has different economics.

Retail attracts customers.

Prime keeps them loyal.

Advertising monetizes their attention.

AWS monetizes businesses.

AI strengthens AWS.

Everything feeds everything else.

This isn't a collection of random businesses.

It's an ecosystem.

And ecosystems are incredibly difficult to compete against.

Andy Jassy Has Changed the Story

Jeff Bezos built Amazon.

Andy Jassy has been tasked with making it more profitable.

Those are two different missions.

For years, critics accused Amazon of chasing revenue while sacrificing profits.

That criticism wasn't entirely unfair.

Amazon often chose growth over margins.

Then something changed.

Operating efficiency became a priority.

The company started trimming unnecessary costs while improving fulfillment efficiency and squeezing more profitability out of existing infrastructure.

The result has been remarkable.

Amazon reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $181.5 billion, up 17% year over year, while operating income climbed to a record $23.9 billion, producing the highest operating margin in company history. AWS revenue accelerated 28% year over year—the fastest pace in roughly four years.

That's the kind of combination investors dream about.

Faster growth.

Higher margins.

Record profitability.

Companies rarely achieve all three simultaneously.

AWS Is Still the Crown Jewel

Whenever someone tells me Amazon is "just retail," I immediately know they haven't looked beneath the surface.

AWS remains one of the most profitable businesses on Earth.

It's easy to underestimate cloud computing because consumers rarely see it.

You don't wake up thinking about cloud infrastructure.

You simply expect Netflix to stream.

You expect your bank's app to work.

You expect businesses to store data securely.

Someone has to make all of that happen.

Increasingly, artificial intelligence is making those data centers even more valuable.

Training massive AI models requires extraordinary computing power.

Running those models requires even more infrastructure.

Amazon already owns much of that infrastructure.

That's an incredible position to occupy.

Instead of betting on which AI application wins...

Amazon often gets paid regardless.

It's a lot like selling picks and shovels during a gold rush.

Some miners strike gold.

Some fail spectacularly.

The person selling the equipment usually does just fine.

Artificial Intelligence Is Expensive...

There is one concern I completely understand.

Amazon is spending astonishing amounts of money.

Data centers aren't cheap.

AI chips aren't cheap.

Electricity isn't cheap.

Construction certainly isn't cheap.

Investors have begun asking whether Big Tech's AI spending has become excessive, particularly as Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta continue pouring hundreds of billions into infrastructure. Analysts generally agree the spending is likely to continue because demand for AI computing remains exceptionally strong, but many also acknowledge that investors now want clearer evidence those investments will generate substantial future returns.

That's a fair concern.

Capital expenditures matter.

Free cash flow matters.

Returns on investment matter.

But I also think investors sometimes confuse large spending with reckless spending.

They're not the same thing.

If Amazon were borrowing billions to chase a fading business model, I'd be worried.

Instead, it's investing in technologies businesses are lining up to rent.

That's an important distinction.

The Quiet Giant Nobody Talks About

If AWS gets all the headlines, Amazon Advertising deserves far more attention than it receives.

Advertising has quietly become one of Amazon's most attractive businesses.

Think about it.

Someone searches Amazon for wireless headphones.

That person isn't casually browsing.

They're already planning to buy something.

That's incredibly valuable.

Advertisers love intent.

Google built an empire around search intent.

Amazon now possesses shopping intent.

Those aren't identical markets.

But they're both extremely profitable.

Better still...

Advertising requires very little inventory.

Margins are high.

Growth remains impressive.

Every additional advertising dollar flows through a machine Amazon already built.

That's beautiful economics.

Retail Finally Became Smarter

One of the most overlooked changes inside Amazon has nothing to do with AI.

It's logistics.

For years Amazon built fulfillment centers at an astonishing pace.

Critics argued it had overbuilt.

Then management reorganized its entire distribution network.

Delivery times improved.

Shipping costs fell.

Same-day delivery expanded dramatically.

Management says more than one billion items were delivered the same day or overnight while lowering the cost to serve customers, showing that scale is now producing meaningful efficiency gains rather than simply adding expenses.

This is why I rarely judge Amazon using old assumptions.

The company continuously reinvents itself.

Just when analysts think they've figured out the business...

Amazon changes the business.

The Bear Case Deserves Respect

Now, let me be fair.

Owning Amazon isn't risk-free.

Far from it.

Competition is intense.

Microsoft continues strengthening Azure.

Alphabet remains a cloud powerhouse.

Regulators around the world continue examining Amazon's market power.

Retail margins remain relatively thin.

Consumer spending can weaken during recessions.

Then there's valuation.

Even after periods of volatility, Amazon still commands a premium because investors expect extraordinary future growth.

If growth slows materially, that premium could shrink.

There's also execution risk.

Artificial intelligence isn't guaranteed to become as profitable as the market expects.

History is filled with transformative technologies that created enormous value for society while disappointing investors who paid too much too soon.

Railroads.

Airlines.

Telecommunications.

The technology changed the world.

Not every shareholder became wealthy.

Amazon must prove its AI investments generate returns that justify today's spending.

That remains the biggest question hanging over the stock.

Why I Continue to Hold

Despite those risks, I keep arriving at the same conclusion.

Amazon isn't merely participating in several attractive industries.

It's helping define them.

Retail.

Cloud computing.

Digital advertising.

Artificial intelligence.

Logistics.

Automation.

Very few companies possess meaningful leadership positions across multiple trillion-dollar markets simultaneously.

Even fewer continue investing aggressively while producing record operating profits.

That's what keeps me optimistic.

I'm not buying Amazon because I expect it to double overnight.

I'm buying it because I believe five and ten years from now, businesses will still need cloud infrastructure, consumers will still shop online, advertisers will still chase purchase intent, and AI workloads will almost certainly require even more computing power than they do today.

Amazon sits at the center of all those trends.

That doesn't guarantee outstanding returns.

Nothing in investing does.

But if I'm forced to choose a company that I believe has an excellent chance of remaining relevant a decade from now, Amazon remains near the top of my list.

Sometimes the best investment isn't the flashiest newcomer.

Sometimes it's the company everyone already knows—but still manages to underestimate.

Is Amazon Still One of the Best Long-Term Tech Stocks?

Part 2: Valuation, Risks, and Why I'm Still Betting on the Long Game

One thing I've learned after years of investing is that a great company doesn't automatically make a great investment.

That sounds obvious until you watch investors throw logic out the window every time a stock starts climbing.

We've all done it.

The stock keeps going up.

Financial television won't stop talking about it.

Social media declares it's "only going higher."

Suddenly people who couldn't explain a balance sheet yesterday are confidently projecting trillion-dollar opportunities.

I've been there.

Experience has taught me something painful.

Price matters.

Not because a wonderful business suddenly becomes terrible, but because expectations eventually become reality's problem.

Amazon has spent much of its public life trading at what many investors would call an expensive valuation.

That's nothing new.

People complained Amazon was overpriced twenty years ago.

They complained ten years ago.

They complained five years ago.

Sometimes they were right.

Sometimes they missed one of the greatest wealth-creating companies in modern history while waiting for a bargain that never arrived.

That doesn't mean valuation should be ignored.

It simply means expensive companies often remain expensive when they consistently execute.

The question I ask myself isn't whether Amazon looks cheap compared to the average company.

It doesn't.

The question is whether Amazon deserves to trade differently than the average company.

I think it does.

Growth Is Becoming More Balanced

Years ago, Amazon was almost entirely a growth story.

Revenue exploded.

Profits often took a back seat.

Investors accepted that because management kept proving every dollar reinvested eventually produced another opportunity.

Today the story feels more mature.

Revenue is still growing at a pace most Fortune 500 companies would envy.

But profitability has improved dramatically.

Operating margins have expanded.

Cash generation has strengthened.

Efficiency has become just as important as expansion.

To me, that's exactly what I wanted to see.

Companies eventually reach a stage where investors stop asking, "How fast can you grow?"

They start asking, "How much money can you actually keep?"

Amazon is finally answering both questions well.

AI Isn't a Side Project

Some investors treat artificial intelligence like it's another product category.

I think that's missing the bigger picture.

AI isn't replacing Amazon's business.

It's enhancing nearly every part of it.

Inside AWS, AI services encourage businesses to rent more computing power.

Inside fulfillment centers, automation improves efficiency.

Customer service becomes faster.

Recommendations become smarter.

Advertising becomes more targeted.

Inventory becomes easier to manage.

Even developers inside Amazon can use AI to write code more efficiently.

That's what excites me.

The company isn't simply trying to sell an AI chatbot.

It's embedding artificial intelligence into dozens of existing businesses.

Those improvements compound over time.

People often underestimate compounding because it rarely looks dramatic on any given day.

It simply keeps showing up year after year until one morning everyone wonders how the company became even stronger than it already was.

Competition Is Real

I don't believe in pretending Amazon has no competition.

That would be foolish.

Microsoft continues to dominate enterprise software while Azure remains one of the world's premier cloud platforms.

Alphabet has become increasingly competitive in cloud computing while maintaining an enormous advantage in search.

Meta is investing breathtaking sums into artificial intelligence.

NVIDIA remains essential to the AI ecosystem.

Apple continues generating extraordinary profits from its hardware and services ecosystem.

Every one of these companies is exceptional.

That's actually good news.

Technology has become so important that multiple winners can exist simultaneously.

Cloud computing isn't a winner-take-all market.

Neither is artificial intelligence.

Neither is digital advertising.

Investors sometimes behave as though success requires someone else's failure.

Reality is usually more complicated.

Amazon doesn't need Microsoft to stumble.

It simply needs to continue executing better than expected.

The Regulatory Cloud

If there's one risk I believe investors occasionally underestimate, it's regulation.

Success attracts attention.

Enormous success attracts governments.

Amazon has become so influential that regulators around the world continue examining its business practices.

That's simply part of becoming one of the largest companies on Earth.

Could regulations reduce profitability?

Absolutely.

Could new rules increase costs?

Certainly.

Could legal battles create years of uncertainty?

Without question.

But I've also noticed something interesting.

The larger Amazon becomes, the more deeply integrated it becomes into the global economy.

Millions of businesses depend on AWS.

Millions of merchants depend on Amazon Marketplace.

Hundreds of millions of consumers rely on Prime.

That doesn't eliminate regulatory risk.

It simply makes drastic solutions more complicated than headlines sometimes suggest.

Consumer Spending Matters More Than People Think

Everyone focuses on AWS.

Everyone talks about AI.

Meanwhile, millions of people continue clicking "Buy Now."

Consumer confidence still matters.

Inflation still matters.

Employment still matters.

Interest rates still matter.

Retail may no longer be Amazon's highest-margin business, but it remains the front door to everything else.

People visit Amazon to shop.

Then they subscribe to Prime.

Then they watch Prime Video.

Then advertisers pay to reach them.

Then merchants pay Amazon to reach even more customers.

The ecosystem begins with something surprisingly ordinary.

Someone deciding they need a new coffee maker.

Never underestimate simple habits repeated by hundreds of millions of people.

My Biggest Mistake as an Investor

I'll admit something that still annoys me.

I've sold great companies too early.

Not because the businesses changed.

Because I became impatient.

I convinced myself there had to be something better.

Something cheaper.

Something more exciting.

Sometimes there was.

Often there wasn't.

Great businesses have an annoying habit of making patient investors look brilliant and impatient investors look unnecessarily clever.

Amazon has taught me that lesson repeatedly.

The stock experiences corrections.

People panic.

Analysts lower price targets.

Financial media begins asking whether the growth story has ended.

Then Amazon quietly keeps building.

Five years later the panic looks almost comical.

I've learned to respect businesses that continue executing while everyone else argues.

The Psychology of Owning Amazon

Owning Amazon requires accepting one uncomfortable reality.

There will be periods when the stock goes nowhere.

Sometimes for months.

Occasionally for years.

That's normal.

Markets don't move in straight lines.

Businesses don't either.

The temptation during those periods is overwhelming.

Sell.

Find the next big thing.

Chase momentum.

Repeat.

I've discovered that investing often has less to do with finding perfect companies than developing the emotional discipline to hold excellent ones through uncomfortable periods.

That's much harder than it sounds.

Patience rarely feels rewarding while you're practicing it.

So, Is Amazon Still One of the Best Long-Term Tech Stocks?

For me, yes.

Not because it's guaranteed to outperform every other technology company.

Not because it's immune to economic slowdowns.

Not because regulators will suddenly leave it alone.

Not because every AI investment will produce extraordinary returns.

None of those things are guaranteed.

I'm optimistic because Amazon continues demonstrating something that's surprisingly rare among companies of its size.

It adapts.

It reinvents.

It enters new markets without abandoning old ones.

It spends aggressively where management believes future demand will exist.

Most importantly, it continues solving problems that millions of consumers and businesses willingly pay to have solved.

That's a powerful business model.

My Investment Thesis

If I strip away the headlines...

Ignore the daily stock chart...

Silence the television pundits...

And simply ask myself where I believe technology will be ten years from now...

I keep arriving at the same answer.

Artificial intelligence will require enormous computing infrastructure.

Cloud computing will continue expanding.

Digital advertising will become increasingly data-driven.

Automation will reshape logistics.

E-commerce will continue taking share from traditional retail.

Businesses will need secure, scalable computing.

Consumers will continue demanding faster delivery.

Amazon participates in every one of those trends.

Very few companies can say that.

Even fewer lead several of them simultaneously.

My Long-Term Rating

If someone asked me whether I'd feel comfortable buying Amazon today and forgetting about it for the next decade, my answer would be yes.

That doesn't mean I'd expect smooth sailing.

There will be volatility.

There will be disappointing quarters.

There will be market corrections.

There will almost certainly be headlines declaring Amazon's best days are over.

I've heard those headlines before.

So far, Amazon has responded the same way every time.

By continuing to build.

That's ultimately why I remain optimistic.

Technology changes.

Consumer habits evolve.

Markets become irrational.

Narratives come and go.

Execution endures.

Amazon has spent nearly thirty years proving that it understands how to adapt faster than many of its competitors.

Until I see convincing evidence that this culture of relentless innovation has fundamentally changed, I see little reason to bet against it.

Final Thoughts

Investing has a funny way of humbling everyone.

No stock wins forever.

No company is invincible.

Every giant eventually faces challenges that once seemed unimaginable.

Amazon will too.

The question isn't whether obstacles will appear.

They will.

The real question is whether Amazon still possesses the leadership, financial strength, infrastructure, engineering talent, and culture necessary to evolve when those obstacles arrive.

Looking at everything I've seen—from AWS and artificial intelligence to advertising, logistics, and operational efficiency—I believe the answer remains yes.

That's why Amazon continues to earn a place in my long-term portfolio.

Not because it's perfect.

Not because it's cheap.

Not because it's guaranteed.

But because, when I look a decade into the future, I still see a company building the infrastructure of tomorrow instead of defending the victories of yesterday.

And in investing, that's exactly the kind of business I want standing beside me for the long haul.