Amazon Slides to 9th in Trading Volume Amid Nasdaq 100 Underperformance as Cloud Growth Lags

On August 19, Amazon (AMZN) closed 1.50% lower, trading with a $6.83 billion volume, ranking ninth in market activity. The stock has underperformed the Nasdaq 100 Index this year, with a 5.5% total return compared to the index’s 13% gain. Amazon’s forward price-to-earnings ratio of 26x now trails the Nasdaq 100’s 27x, marking its largest discount to the index in decades after historically trading at a premium.

Investor concerns center on Amazon’s cloud-computing segment, which reported 17% revenue growth in Q2—well below Microsoft Azure’s 39% and Google Cloud’s 32%. Analysts argue that Amazon’s diversified business model, spanning e-commerce, AWS, and Whole Foods, dilutes its appeal as a pure-play AI investment. “Many investors seek thematic purity,” said Eric Clark, a portfolio manager, noting that Amazon’s broad operations make it less attractive in an AI-obsessed market. Recent expansions, such as doubling same-day grocery delivery cities, have also failed to reinvigorate investor enthusiasm.

Despite the near-term underperformance, 90% of covering analysts maintain a “buy” rating for Amazon, exceeding Meta and Alphabet. Long-term optimism persists, with some investors betting that AI-driven efficiency gains in cloud computing will eventually boost profitability. However, competitors like Oracle and CoreWeave, which have aggressively scaled AI infrastructure, have outpaced Amazon in short-term market momentum.

A backtest of a strategy buying the top 500 stocks by daily trading volume from 2022 to 2025 showed a 7.61% total return over 365 days, with a 1.98% average daily return. The approach delivered a Sharpe ratio of 0.94 but experienced a maximum drawdown of -29.16%, underscoring its vulnerability during market downturns.