Why Amazon Stock Can Beat the Market and See Its Best Monthly Streak in 20 Years

Investors are now bracing for a brutal September, with this month historically being the worst of the year for the stock market. The S&P 500 has on average lost 1.1% in the month of September, declining in this month for the last three years straight.

While fellow tech giant

Apple

(AAPL) typically follows the wider market and has a sour September, Amazon tends to buck the trend. While shares in the e-commerce and cloud computing giant have, to be sure, declined for six straight Septembers, the wider historical performance is more positive—meaning Amazon could be due a win.

Amazon has, on average, returned 6.6% in the month of September, with its best performance in that month on record being an eye-popping gain of 86% in 1997, the first year it was listed on the stock market. A total of 58% of Septembers have been positive for the stock.

Coming off the back of its best monthly streak in 12 years, if Amazon stock can rise in September it will mark its longest monthly stretch of gains since 2003, when it rose from January through October.

It’s not just history: Wall Street is also bullish, albeit on a longer time scale. Amazon garners an average rating of Buy among almost 50 analysts surveyed by FactSet, with an average target stock price implying gains of more than 25% from current levels.

It is something that Amazon shareholders should take heart from if they see the rest of their portfolio in the red this month.

Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com