Amazon or Microsoft, which is the better stock?

iA Global Asset Management analyst Dan Rohinton said Amazon (Amazon Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials NASDAQ:AMZN) looks well-positioned heading into 2026 after lagging the broader market in 2025, creating what he views as an attractive setup for durable growth.

Speaking on BNN Bloomberg’s Market Call on Jan. 2, Rohinton said Amazon’s North American retail business has quietly become “wildly profitable,” while the longer-term investment case remains centred on Amazon Web Services.

“What you’re really playing for is AWS,” Rohinton said. “All of the major tech platforms, Netflix, Spotify, were built on AWS, and the next wave of AI-related companies is going to be hosted there as well. That keeps accelerating the growth rate.”

Rohinton said Amazon is benefiting from improving profitability across divisions, even as it moves through another heavy investment cycle tied to artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure. He added that the stock trades at a relatively low valuation compared with its own history, making the risk-reward compelling.

Asked to compare Amazon with Microsoft, Rohinton said the two names are close, but gave a slight edge to Microsoft due to more visible, supply-constrained demand.

“With Microsoft, the demand is basically guaranteed,” he said. “Amazon is almost certain, but Microsoft is more obviously bottlenecked.”

Amazon shares have gained 3.3% over the past 12 months and are up more than 41% over five years. Of the analysts covering Amazon, 82 rate it a “Buy,” three rate it “Hold,” and none rate it “Sell,” with a consensus target price of US$297.47.

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