The Rise of Amazon

This project studies the meteoric rise of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) in the recent years. The company\u27s stock price increased by 513% over the last 5 years while the S&P 500 index (which is an indicator of overall markets) grew by 80% approx. Amazon.com was founded in 1994 and went public in 1997; it has now become the largest retailer in the United States. This study looks at the financial performance, the operational performance and attempts to carry out an investment analysis of Amazon in the recent past. Using Microsoft Excel, this study performs an analysis of financial statements available from investor reports of the company and also from the database Mergent Online. This study employs both a percentage comparison and ratio analysis to provide the reader with the perspective on the growth of the company and explore the key financial drivers of success achieved by amazon.com. The uniqueness of this study is that it enables readers to look into the financial strategy of Amazon and how it has allowed them to become the powerhouse of retail