Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), declined 10% during the fourth quarter. After a streak of stellar quarterly earnings reports, which showed meaningful margin and profitability upside, Amazon reported mixed results with operating margins and guidance slightly below Street’s heightened expectations driven by weaker retail margins and investments in India and abroad. Amazon is continuing to invest heavily in several growth initiatives, including Amazon studios, Alexa, India, Amazon Web Services, and distribution and fulfilment center expansions. We see the company as the undisputed global leader in the two, secularly growing, multi-trillion dollar markets of e-commerce and cloud computing, and it remains our highest conviction long-term investment idea.
From Baron Funds' Fifth Avenue Growth Fund fourth quarter 2016 commentary.
