Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney downgraded Amazon's stock to “Hold” from “Buy” in his latest report, despite a surge in shares since Q3 earnings report which he says is partially due to Oprah’s recent endorsement of the Kindle.
He cites poor sales data from other online vendors and doesn’t seem to think the O-Factor is enough to raise Kindle sales above his previous estimates this holiday season.
“Oprah’s 10/24 public endorsement ('It’s absolutely my new favorite thing in the world') served as a material stock catalyst,” he writes. “We stand steadfastly by our ’08 380K Kindle unit forecast. But also by our conclusion that it won’t be material to AMZN ‘til 2010.”
Oprah had Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on her show to discuss the Kindle, gave one to everyone in her audience, and promoted a week-long offer of 50 dollars off the sales price.
Mahaney doubled his estimate on expected Kindle sales back in August, comparing it to the first year sales of Apple's iPod, and even went so far as to refer to the e-book reader as "the iPod of the book world."
Photo: Flickr/ttkgeek
See Also:
