Good news, kids, you might find 30 dolls in your Christmas stocking after all.
President Donald Trump recently put a crimp in Kris Kringle in response to concern that his tariffs could lead to empty store shelves come the holidays.
"Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls," he humbugged, adding that Americans didn't "need" many of the products that are imported from China, the U.S.'s third largest trading partner.
Yes, but then again we may all be singing "Hello, Dolly" come Yuletide, after China reportedly said it was evaluating possibly starting trade negotiations with the U.S.
News of a possible China deal was undoubtedly well-received at Santa's workshop as well as at Amazon (AMZN) , which sells all kinds of stuff, including dolls, many of which are in the image and likeness of one Donald Trump.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy: 'None of us knows exactly where tariffs will settle or when.' Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg/Getty Images
CEO: Amazon not uniquely susceptible to tariffs
On May 1 Amazon beat Wall Street's first-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, but its guidance for operating income fell short, and Amazon Web Services, the cloud-services business, grew at a slower-than-expected pace for the third straight quarter.
"Obviously, none of us knows exactly where tariffs will settle or when," Chief Executive Andy Jassy said during the earnings call. "We haven’t seen any attenuation of demand yet. To some extent, we’ve seen some heightened buying in certain categories that may indicate stocking up in advance of any potential tariff impact."
"We also have not seen the average selling price of retail items appreciably go up yet," he said, adding that "Amazon is not uniquely susceptible to tariffs."
The company's shares fell after the results were released. In 2025 through the close May 2, the stock was off 13%.
Fund manager: Cautious optimism on US-China talks
Trump butted heads with Amazon following reports the company was considering displaying U.S. tariff costs on its product listings. Amazon quickly scrapped the plan.
Chris Versace, lead portfolio manager for TheStreet Pro Portfolio, said the potential deal with China was keeping Amazon's stock out of the basement.
"We view those reports as constructive, and while we may be hopeful about what comes next, we continue to think these talks will be measured in weeks, not days, and that the ultimate details will be what matters most," he said in his TheStreet Pro column.
Versace said that any rollback or elimination of the Trump tariffs would lead Wall Street to revisit second-half 2025 expectations for Amazon.
"Near term, however, we will soon be hearing from retailers that lack those higher-margin businesses housed inside Amazon that will help minimize the overall impact of tariffs on Amazon’s bottom line," he said.
Versace, who said Amazon tends to skew overly conservative with its operating-income forecasts, said that if the shares get dragged lower as other retailers report in the next few weeks, he'll look for compelling opportunities to scoop up some additional shares.
Firm: Amazon has shown nice stability
Analysts at Bank of America Global Research boosted their Amazon price target to $230 from $225 and reiterated a buy rating on the shares.
Amazon has "material" third-party-seller revenue exposure to China and other imports, and AWS lost some ground to Microsoft's (MSFT) Azure in Q1, the investment firm said.
"However, the platform has shown nice stability in 2025 so far, and ... the stock is well positioned to benefit from any trade agreements over the next three months," B of A said.
Cloud growth can be lumpy and while AWS is not seeing the benefit of ChatGPT usage like Azure, "corporate [spending] remains steady and AWS growth could potentially accelerate in [the second half] as capacity ramps up," B of A said.
Microsoft (MSFT) has a significant stake in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.
AWS, which accounted for about 19% of the parent’s total revenue, is the world’s top provider of cloud infrastructure, according to CNBC.
Wedbush raised its price target on Amazon to $235 from $225 and maintained an outperform rating on the shares.
The investment firm said Amazon reported healthy results: revenue in line with consensus and operating income 5% ahead of expectations, according to The Fly.
Profit at the Seattle e-retail and tech company strongly beat Wall Street's estimates, but guidance for Q2 growth and operating income were mixed. Wedbush said. AMZN management is contemplating a broader range of outcomes given macroeconomic uncertainty and the implications of tariffs for the business.
Still, Wedbush expects some conservatism in management's outlook, as the company has beaten the high end of its operating-income guidance in each of the past nine quarters.
Oppenheimer lowered its price target on Amazon to $215 from $220 and reiterated an outperform rating despite concern that AWS might not accelerate in Q2 and a weaker overall margin outlook.
The investment firm said management cited capacity constraints, but it is getting better as the year proceeds with more server capacity.
Management does not see reduced consumer demand, Oppenheimer said, with its core strategy of broad selection, price and speed seen as a key advantage to offset headwinds from tariffs.
