Amazon shares soar, CEO richer by more than $2 billion

A box from Amazon.com is pictured on the porch of a house in Golden, Colorado July 23, 2008.

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) shares soared 28 percent to touch a lifetime high on Friday after a major earnings beat and an upbeat holiday forecast prompted at least three brokerages to upgrade the world's largest online retailer's stock.

Amazon shares, which have gained 82 percent since January, rose by $26.20 to $119.65 Friday, before closing at $118.49 on Nasdaq, making Chief Executive Jeff Bezos richer by about $2.36 billion.

According to a securities filing, Bezos held 94.2 million shares as of August 18.

Trading volume for the Seattle-based online retailer's shares shot up to more than 55 million shares, about 9 times their 50-day moving average.

Jefferies & Co upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold," while FBR Capital Markets raised it to "outperform" from "market perform," citing accelerating growth in media and international business, and strong cash-flow generation.

"Amazon's surprisingly strong results attest to a recovering consumer," Jefferies' Youssef Squali said, adding that the company has a user-friendly platform and a superior product mix at competitive prices.

To maintain its dominance in e-readers, Amazon cut the price of the Kindle -- its bestselling product in units and dollars -- to $259 from $299 and introduced a global version.

Goldman Sachs said it continues to believe that the company can double its market share the next several years. The overall e-commerce market is also expected to double over the same period.

"We believe Amazon is a best-in-class retailer with significant long-term growth potential," said Standard & Poor's Equity Research analyst Michael Souers, who raised the stock to "hold" from "sell."

Amazon is clearly gaining share and its pending acquisition of shoe seller Zappos.com should help fuel market penetration in new categories, Susquehanna analyst Marianne Wolk said in a note to clients.

On Thursday, Amazon's quarterly results handily beat estimates as it saw strong demand in North America and abroad. It also indicated that holiday sales could come in far above expectations.

(Additional reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal and Gopakumar Warrier)