Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) wants to be more – much more – than just the King of E-commerce.
The Seattle-based company used its huge servers to build Amazon Web Services into the globe’s largest cloud-computing company. And Amazon Prime, while not the leader in streaming media, is definitely a contender.
Now, Amazon has sets its sights on global shipping and logistics.
That much became clear March 9 when Amazon announced plans to lease 20 jumbo delivery jets from Air Transport Services Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ATSG).
Neither firm put a dollar value on the five-year deal. But the news sent small-cap ATSG’s stock soaring 16% in a day.
It also gave both average investors and the top dogs on Wall Street the feeling that – with Amazon horning in – this is a poor time to invest in the other major shipping firms out there.
There’s just one thing wrong with that notion – it isn’t true.
I know of one global shipping giant that’s so competitive and innovative that it will flourish no matter what Jeff Bezos does… and will pay you a healthy dividend while you watch its share price climb and climb.
Let’s take a look…
A Sharp Deal
Now then, there’s a lot to like about the deal between Amazon and ATSG.
It’s obviously a huge boon for ATSG, which will fly the 20 aircraft and handle gate operations.
But as much as I like the deal, there are two downsides to buying thinly traded ATSG.
First, though its income statement improved last year, the growth trend remains weak. Over the last three years, ATSG has seen basically zero sales growth and a 1% decline in profits.
Second, it’s hard to see how this deal with Amazon makes it a long-haul e-commerce play. That’s key because analysts note that e-commerce is growing five times faster than the 2.2% of the growth of U.S. GDP.
