AMZN has quietly hit an all-time high of $178.22, surpassing its previous ATH of $175 back in Nov. 2021. Love the way this stock trades - no big daily moves, just a steady ascent over the past 12 months. It remains my biggest core long-term holding.

As I've mentioned before, the best way to value this company is by looking at its operating cash flows, not its GAAP earnings. For example, Amazon made an investment in Rivian, so if Rivian shares decline, GAAP earnings go lower. What on earth does the stock price of Rivian have to do with Amazon's cash flows? Nothing. So I've never looked at GAAP earnings.

Here's Amazon's operating cash flows from 2012:

Year  Cash flow
2012   $4.2B
2013   $5.5B
2014   $6.8B
2015  $12.0B
2016  $17.2B
2017  $18.4B
2018  $30.7B
2019  $38.5B
2020  $66.0B  <-- Pandemic year
2021  $46.3B  <-- First YoY decline in cash flow due to aggressivva investments in fulfilment centers and staff
2022  $46.7B  <-- Cash flow still below the peak, stock starts a big decline 
2023  $84.9B  <-- Company lays off 10K+ people, cuts spending, gets cash flow to surpass 2020 peak. Stock soars. 

I hope the above gives you a better way to value AMZN. Of course, in the short term, the price can go anywhere because of something called human sentiment. Math can't help you with that.

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