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Amazon.com (WBO:AMZN) Beneish M-Score

: -2.79 (As of Today)
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The zones of discrimination for M-Score is as such:

An M-Score of equal or less than -1.78 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.
An M-Score of greater than -1.78 signals that the company is likely to be a manipulator.

Good Sign:

Beneish M-Score -2.79 no higher than -1.78, which implies that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.

The historical rank and industry rank for Amazon.com's Beneish M-Score or its related term are showing as below:

WBO:AMZN' s Beneish M-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: -3.38   Med: -2.94   Max: -2.31
Current: -2.79

During the past 13 years, the highest Beneish M-Score of Amazon.com was -2.31. The lowest was -3.38. And the median was -2.94.


Amazon.com Beneish M-Score Historical Data

The historical data trend for Amazon.com's Beneish M-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

Amazon.com Annual Data
Trend Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Beneish M-Score
Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -2.93 -2.94 -2.59 -2.44 -2.79

Amazon.com Quarterly Data
Mar19 Jun19 Sep19 Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23
Beneish M-Score Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -2.44 -2.73 -2.77 -2.89 -2.79

Competitive Comparison

For the Internet Retail subindustry, Amazon.com's Beneish M-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Beneish M-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Amazon.com Beneish M-Score Distribution

For the Retail - Cyclical industry and Consumer Cyclical sector, Amazon.com's Beneish M-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Amazon.com's Beneish M-Score falls into.



Amazon.com Beneish M-Score Calculation

The M-score was created by Professor Messod Beneish. Instead of measuring the bankruptcy risk (Altman Z-Score) or business trend (Piotroski F-Score), M-score can be used to detect the risk of earnings manipulation. This is the original research paper on M-score.

The M-Score Variables:

The M-score of Amazon.com for today is based on a combination of the following eight different indices:

M=-4.84+0.92 * DSRI+0.528 * GMI+0.404 * AQI+0.892 * SGI+0.115 * DEPI
=-4.84+0.92 * 1.101+0.528 * 0.8068+0.404 * 1.0957+0.892 * 1.0884+0.115 * 0.9494
-0.172 * SGAI+4.679 * TATA-0.327 * LVGI
-0.172 * 0.9265+4.679 * -0.105739-0.327 * 0.8914
=-2.82

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

This Year (Dec23) TTM:Last Year (Dec22) TTM:
Total Receivables was €47,916 Mil.
Revenue was 155854.237 + 134068.771 + 124035.509 + 118952.372 = €532,911 Mil.
Gross Profit was 26845.175 + 22997.728 + 20097.402 + 17010.008 = €86,950 Mil.
Total Current Assets was €158,046 Mil.
Total Assets was €484,042 Mil.
Property, Plant and Equipment(Net PPE) was €253,725 Mil.
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization(DDA) was €45,125 Mil.
Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) was €52,093 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was €151,229 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was €124,355 Mil.
Net Income was 9742.208 + 9256.623 + 6230.25 + 2962.648 = €28,192 Mil.
Non Operating Income was 265.013 + 966.047 + 56.303 + -413.762 = €874 Mil.
Cash Flow from Operations was 38940.405 + 19880.329 + 15207.348 + 4471.992 = €78,500 Mil.
Total Receivables was €39,988 Mil.
Revenue was 140848.576 + 128372.01 + 114687.364 + 105731.152 = €489,639 Mil.
Gross Profit was 18546.768 + 16932.65 + 15510.616 + 13467.456 = €64,457 Mil.
Total Current Assets was €138,571 Mil.
Total Assets was €436,765 Mil.
Property, Plant and Equipment(Net PPE) was €238,679 Mil.
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization(DDA) was €39,943 Mil.
Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) was €51,660 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was €146,691 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was €132,271 Mil.




1. DSRI = Days Sales in Receivables Index

Measured as the ratio of Revenue in Total Receivables in year t to year t-1.

A large increase in DSR could be indicative of revenue inflation.

DSRI=(Receivables_t / Revenue_t) / (Receivables_t-1 / Revenue_t-1)
=(47916.001 / 532910.889) / (39987.84 / 489639.102)
=0.089914 / 0.081668
=1.101

2. GMI = Gross Margin Index

Measured as the ratio of gross margin in year t-1 to gross margin in year t.

Gross margin has deteriorated when this index is above 1. A firm with poorer prospects is more likely to manipulate earnings.

GMI=GrossMargin_t-1 / GrossMargin_t
=(GrossProfit_t-1 / Revenue_t-1) / (GrossProfit_t / Revenue_t)
=(64457.49 / 489639.102) / (86950.313 / 532910.889)
=0.131643 / 0.163161
=0.8068

3. AQI = Asset Quality Index

AQI is the ratio of asset quality in year t to year t-1.

Asset quality is measured as the ratio of non-current assets other than Property, Plant and Equipment to Total Assets.

AQI=(1 - (CurrentAssets_t + PPE_t) / TotalAssets_t) / (1 - (CurrentAssets_t-1 + PPE_t-1) / TotalAssets_t-1)
=(1 - (158045.867 + 253724.73) / 484042.118) / (1 - (138570.704 + 238679.072) / 436765.2)
=0.149308 / 0.136264
=1.0957

4. SGI = Sales Growth Index

Ratio of Revenue in year t to sales in year t-1.

Sales growth is not itself a measure of manipulation. However, growth companies are likely to find themselves under pressure to manipulate in order to keep up appearances.

SGI=Sales_t / Sales_t-1
=Revenue_t / Revenue_t-1
=532910.889 / 489639.102
=1.0884

5. DEPI = Depreciation Index

Measured as the ratio of the rate of Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization in year t-1 to the corresponding rate in year t.

DEPI greater than 1 indicates that assets are being depreciated at a slower rate. This suggests that the firm might be revising useful asset life assumptions upwards, or adopting a new method that is income friendly.

DEPI=(Depreciation_t-1 / (Depreciaton_t-1 + PPE_t-1)) / (Depreciation_t / (Depreciaton_t + PPE_t))
=(39943.49 / (39943.49 + 238679.072)) / (45125.216 / (45125.216 + 253724.73))
=0.143361 / 0.150996
=0.9494

Note: If the Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization data is not available, we assume that the depreciation rate is constant and set the Depreciation Index to 1.

6. SGAI = Sales, General and Administrative expenses Index

The ratio of Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) to Sales in year t relative to year t-1.

SGA expenses index > 1 means that the company is becoming less efficient in generate sales.

SGAI=(SGA_t / Sales_t) / (SGA_t-1 /Sales_t-1)
=(52093.139 / 532910.889) / (51659.8 / 489639.102)
=0.097752 / 0.105506
=0.9265

7. LVGI = Leverage Index

The ratio of total debt to Total Assets in year t relative to yeat t-1.

An LVGI > 1 indicates an increase in leverage

LVGI=((LTD_t + CurrentLiabilities_t) / TotalAssets_t) / ((LTD_t-1 + CurrentLiabilities_t-1) / TotalAssets_t-1)
=((124355.287 + 151228.889) / 484042.118) / ((132271.392 + 146690.992) / 436765.2)
=0.569339 / 0.638701
=0.8914

8. TATA = Total Accruals to Total Assets

Total accruals calculated as the change in working capital accounts other than cash less depreciation.

TATA=(IncomefromContinuingOperations_t - CashFlowsfromOperations_t) / TotalAssets_t
=(NetIncome_t - NonOperatingIncome_t - CashFlowsfromOperations_t) / TotalAssets_t
=(28191.729 - 873.601 - 78500.074) / 484042.118
=-0.105739

An M-Score of equal or less than -1.78 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator. An M-Score of greater than -1.78 signals that the company is likely to be a manipulator.

Amazon.com has a M-score of -2.82 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.


Amazon.com Beneish M-Score Related Terms

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Amazon.com (WBO:AMZN) Business Description

Address
410 Terry Avenue North, Seattle, WA, USA, 98109-5210
Amazon is a leading online retailer and one of the highest-grossing e-commerce aggregators, with $386 billion in net sales and approximately $578 billion in estimated physical/digital online gross merchandise volume in 2021. Retail-related revenue represents approximately 80% of the total, followed by Amazon Web Services' cloud computing, storage, database, and other offerings (10%-15%), advertising services (5%), and other. International segments constitute 25%-30% of Amazon's non-AWS sales, led by Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan.