amazoncom inc has announced hundreds of thousands of job openings in recent weeks putting labor costs and related pressures into focus for some analysts heading into their thirdquarter earnings review the ecommerce giant is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on thursday after the closing bell amazon amzn has announced that it’s looking for 150000 seasonal hires as well as 40000 corporate and tech workers and 125000 fulfillment and transportation workers amazon like many companies in the consumer space has enhanced pay and benefits to attract and retain talent in a tight labor market see how the biggest companies in america are helping the smallest ones get onto their shelves credit suisse analysts say hiring will likely enhance fulfillment services but it will also be pricey “as we further anticipate global logistics headwinds do not abate until mid22 our ebit earnings before interest and taxes estimates for the second half of 2021 and 2022 decrease accordingly and reflect a scenario in which amazon has spent roughly 53 billion in capex and further taken on incremental expenses without showing potential wallet share gains through greater service levels in the form of faster deliveries across a wider array of skus stockkeeping units” analysts led by stephen ju wrote in a note in terms of supplychain challenges that could hamper inventory levels across the consumer category credit suisse is upbeat about amazon’s ability to manage those hurdles “we believe that amazon was already leaning on vendors to send in additional inventory even before the brunt of the pandemic had arrived in its operating regions last year” analysts said credit suisse notes that amazon’s inventory turns more quickly than its competitors “hence it is likely this period of operational challenges will see amazon pick up additional share relative to the competition through higher availability in addition to the aforementioned better service” credit suisse rates amazon stock at outperform with a 4200 price target down recently from 4700 due to fulfillment and shipping expenses and supplychain concerns causing shoppers to stockpile gifts just in case data shows more generally across ecommerce keybanc capital markets says seasonal hiring will be tough this year “while the expiration of enhanced unemployment and higher vaccination rates have improved the labor situation since the second quarter it is clear that seasonal hiring may be pressured across our coverage” analysts led by edward yruma wrote amazon has an average buy stock rating with an average target price of 414811 according to 52 analysts polled by factset here’s what investors should know heading into amazon’s thirdquarter earnings earnings the factset consensus is for earnings per share of 890 down from 1237 last year estimize which crowdsources estimates from sellside and buyside analysts hedgefund managers executives academics and others expects eps of 1049 amazon earnings have beat the factset consensus for the last five quarters sales the factset consensus is for sales of 11155 billion up from 9615 billion last year stock amazon stock has tumbled 8 over the past three months though shares are up 46 for the year so far the amplify online retail etf ibuy is down 06 for 2021 to date and the sp 500 index spx has gained 224 for the period also amazon is at low risk of regulatory action according to rbc though others think it could be broken up amazon runs the risk of government action “we continue to believe that government regulation around antitrust has the highest chance of disrupting amazon’s performance” wrote da davidson’s tom forte “with recent watchdog and regulatory scrutiny into the company’s 3p seller business we will be listening for how management intends to mitigate risk to this part of its business” some analysts agree though there are others like rbc capital markets that have said they don’t see a big risk from regulators – advertising has momentum truist securities notes that amazon’s advertising business has grown by 40to50 yearoveryear for several quarters they think covid19 will continue to drive that part of the business amazon puts advertising under “other” when it reports results advertising makes up the bulk of that category “our conversations with marketers indicate that sellers continue to lean in hard on amazon given the direct response and high intent nature of the platform” truist wrote “additionally as a high margin business strong advertising growth is a material source of operating leverage which offsets higher shipping and fulfillment costs” and macy’s ecommerce business could have an enterprise value of 115 billion cowen says –prime day timing was changed this year wedbush analysts note that from 2015 through 2019 prime day took place in the third quarter this year it was moved to june “despite prime day being pulled forward into q2 this year we believe amazon is wellpositioned to exceed the high end of its q3 guidance driven by seasonal trends ecommerce share gains a recovering economy backtoschool shopping a preference to shop online amid covid19 and robust advertiser demand stemming from apple’s recent privacy changes” analysts led by michael pachter wrote “looking ahead we see further room for upside contingent upon a material worsening of the global pandemic greaterthanexpected levels of advertiser interest and accelerating business adoption of amazon’s cloud storage services