Should You Buy Amazon Stock Before April 29?

First-quarter earnings season is in full swing, and it promises to be a doozy. Investors will be receiving financial updates from large multinational corporations right in the midst of the market's trade war tribulations. Uncertainty and volatility in the stock market are intensifying in parallel to investors' fears about how President Donald Trump's tariffs will impact corporate profits and the broader economy.

One company caught right in the middle of this upheaval is Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). The e-commerce powerhouse sources many of the goods on its platform from sellers across China and greater Asia, and investors are betting that pain is coming for it in consequence. Shares have fallen by about 18% year to date, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in shareholder value.

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After the close of trading on Tuesday, the company will deliver its Q1 results. Should you buy the dip on Amazon stock before that earnings release?

Tariff turmoil coming for Amazon?

Amazon's e-commerce marketplace is populated with hundreds of thousands of third-party businesses selling goods from around the world. Many are based in China, one of the premier manufacturing countries in the world. Now, with Trump imposing tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports, many Chinese sellers are reportedly halting their sales via Amazon to customers in the United States.

This could impact Amazon's growth in 2025, but don't think it is a death knell for the company. It does not actually own most of the inventory it sells on its marketplace. If a company from China decides to stop selling on Amazon, but it's replaced by another seller from Vietnam or Mexico offering equivalent products, most Amazon customers will not notice the difference. The prices people pay may rise due to the tariffs Trump is imposing on imports from those other nations as well, and there could be major disruptions to global supply chains, but Amazon should benefit as long as U.S. consumers continue to use its e-commerce platform, pay for its Prime service, and view its advertising.

A recession may be likely in 2025 if these tariffs remain in place. However, Amazon's strong balance sheet gives it the wherewithal to navigate through difficult economic periods. The percentage of total U.S. retail sales that e-commerce accounts for is still climbing, providing a tailwind for Amazon that will continue for the long haul.

Potential growth (and risks) in artificial intelligence

As a sprawling technology giant, Amazon is not just an e-commerce platform. Its greatest profit driver is Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's leading cloud infrastructure provider. That segment produced over $100 billion in revenue in 2024 and just under $40 billion in operating income, making it a high-margin business.

Spending on the cloud is accelerating due to the massive budgets of fast-growing artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups such as OpenAI and Anthropic. AWS's revenue grew by 19% year over year in the fourth quarter, and its growth may accelerate in 2025.

However, though AI presents a huge opportunity for Amazon, there are also some risks for investors. Spending on AI has grown so quickly in anticipation of future demand that it may have reached the point of overspending -- that's a common scenario with promising new technologies. Amazon and Microsoft are reportedly delaying some future commitments to data center spending, a sign that the supply of cloud computing infrastructure is catching up with the huge increase in demand for it. Still, AWS remains a high-quality business that should keep growing over the long haul, both in revenue and profit margins.

AMZN PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

Should you buy Amazon stock today?

Uncertainty about Amazon's outlook is increasing -- 2025 could easily turn into a down year for the company due to its exposure to Trump's tariffs.

However, investors should zoom out and look at the long term. This has been an incredible growth stock for decades, going from $100 billion in revenue in 2014 to $638 billion last year. Based on its potential in e-commerce and cloud computing over the next decade and beyond, I would expect it to keep serving up similar growth.

In that light, this year's dip presents a buying opportunity. I do not know how Amazon stock will react after the Q1 earnings release, but right now, trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 27, it looks cheap for buy-and-hold investors. Take the long view and add this high-quality technology stock to your portfolio today.

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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brett Schafer has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.