History Says You'll Regret Not Buying Amazon Stock

By Keith Speights – Mar 22, 2026 at 3:45AM ESTKey PointsAmazon continues to dominate e-commerce and has become an advertising juggernaut.The company's AWS unit could be on track to generate $600 billion in annual sales within the next 10 years.History suggests that buying Amazon on significant pullbacks is a smart move.Amazon's (AMZN 1.62%) stock performance hasn't been inspiring lately. Its gains have lagged well behind those of the S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.51%) over the last 12 months. Amazon remains in correction territory, with its shares around 16% below their fourth-quarter 2025 peak. Should investors stay away from this lackluster stock? I don't think so. Amazon has survived and thrived despite adversity, from the dot-com bubble to recessions to the COVID-19 pandemic. Every pullback has created a tremendous buying opportunity. Will history repeat itself? Image source: Amazon. E-commerce and beyond Amazon ranks as the world's largest consumer discretionary company by market cap. It continues to dominate the e-commerce market but still has room to grow. One reason why no e-commerce rival can keep up with Amazon is its relentless focus on improving operations. The company has consistently increased delivery speeds in recent years and delivered almost 70% more items on the same day in the U.S. in 2025 than it did in 2024. Amazon has harnessed technology to improve service and efficiency. For example, over 300 million customers used its Rufus agentic AI shopping assistant last year. The company believes that Rufus helped boost annual sales by nearly $12 billion. The e-commerce platform also serves as a core foundation for one of Amazon's most important new growth areas -- advertising. Sponsored products advertising on Amazon.com generates the greatest ad revenue. Amazon's Prime Video ad sales are also increasing robustly, with millions of viewers tuning into the streaming service for programs such as Thursday Night Football and NBA on Prime. Overall, Amazon Ads now has an annual revenue run rate of $85 billion. Ad sales jumped 22% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025. ExpandNASDAQ: AMZNAmazonToday's Change(-1.62%) $-3.39Current Price$205.37Key Data PointsMarket Cap$2.2TDay's Range$204.32 - $207.5452wk Range$161.38 - $258.60Volume64MAvg Vol48MGross Margin50.29% A key backbone of the AI boom However, Amazon isn't only a consumer discretionary stock; it's also one of the top AI stocks.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) remains the No. 1 cloud service provider with a global market share of 28% to 30%. In Q4, AWS' revenue soared 24% year over year to $35.6 billion. Sure, other cloud platforms are growing even faster. But Amazon CEO Andy Jassy correctly observed in the Q4 earnings call that "it's very different having 24% year-over-year growth on a $142 billion annualized run rate than to have a higher percentage growth on a meaningfully smaller base, which is the case with our competitors." AWS is addressing the greatest obstacle to sustained AI growth by developing its own chips. Its Trainium 2 chips offer 30% to 40% better price performance than comparable GPUs. The recently launched Trainium 3 chips are up to 40% more cost-effective than Trainium 2 chips. And the company is hard at work developing even more powerful Trainium 4 technology. Perhaps the best indication of AWS' continued growth prospects is its backlog. Jassy revealed in the Q4 call that the backlog totaled $244 billion at the end of 2025, up 40% year over year and around 22% sequentially. He also recently told employees that AWS could generate annual sales of $600 billion within the next 10 years. That amount is roughly 83% of Amazon's total revenue in 2025. Is this time different for Amazon? Amazon's double-digit percentage pullbacks have always been great buying opportunities. Is this time different? I don't think so. Granted, Amazon's e-commerce business is more mature than it was 10 years ago. However, the company believes that it's only in the early innings of capitalizing on the massive AI opportunity. New initiatives, such as the satellite internet service planned to launch later this year, should provide additional growth. History says you'll regret buying Amazon stock. I think history is right.Read NextMar 21, 2026 •By Anders BylundAmazon Gave Up, but "The Wheel of Time" Gets a Second ChanceMar 21, 2026 •By Matt Frankel, CFPHere's How Amazon Turned $1,000 Into $2.5 Million -- And How to Find the Next OneMar 20, 2026 •By Prosper Junior Bakiny3 Monster Stocks to Hold for the Next 20 Years Starting Right NowMar 20, 2026 •By Danny Vena, CPAPrediction: This Will Be Amazon's Stock Price in 5 YearsMar 18, 2026 •By Daniel SparksAmazon Stock: Buy, Sell, or Hold?Mar 18, 2026 •By Danny Vena, CPAAmazon Stock Investors Just Got Fantastic News From CEO Andy JassyAbout the AuthorKeith Speights is a contributing Motley Fool healthcare analyst covering publicly traded companies across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, technology, and marijuana. Prior to The Motley Fool, Keith was CEO of Constant Care Technology, a healthcare technology company; vice president of American HealthTech, a healthcare software company; and a director of operations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi, a health insurer. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Mississippi State University.TMFFishBizStocks MentionedAmazonNASDAQ: AMZN$205.37(-1.62%)-$3.39S&P 500 IndexSNPINDEX: ^GSPC$6,506.48(-1.51%)-$100.01*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.