Amazon’s acquisition strategy has become clear after its last two deals, according to DA Davidson. The e-commerce giant announced last week that it was acquiring Roomba maker iRobot for $1.7 billion. The news follows last month’s $3.9 billion acquisition of primary care provider One Medical. In both cases, Amazon is following its historic approach of “build first, buy second,” Tom Forte, senior research analyst at DA Davidson, wrote in a note. In other words, Amazon is acquiring companies after it has already started building those businesses in-house. It’s the same approach Amazon used with Whole Foods, Zappos and MGM, Forte noted. The company, which had $60.71 billion in cash and investments on hand in the second quarter, is paying all cash for its latest acquisitions. “This suggests to us that management believes its stock is undervalued, at current levels, which we find encouraging,” Forte said. The timing of the deals, less than three weeks apart, suggests CEO Andy Jassy may be more willing to engage in M&A than his predecessor, founder Jeff Bezos, said. In fact, it may have to since Amazon needs far more revenue to move the needle than it did when the company was smaller, he added. Given the prices of recent deals, Amazon appears confident it can pull off acquisitions below the $10 billion approved by the government, Forte said. With these parameters in mind, Forte came up with a couple of names that could be considered acquisition targets. With Boxed, an e-commerce company that sells consumables in bulk, Amazon could take another stab at bulk products, Forte said. The company, which has a market cap of $124 million, is down more than 86% year to date. They are scheduled to release earnings after the bell on Tuesday. Amazon could also advance its own home-related efforts with Lovesac, Forte said. The furniture retailer is down nearly 47% for the year and has a market cap of $528 million. It doesn’t report earnings until next month. Finally, the acquisition of Sonos, which makes wireless home sound systems, could add to Amazon’s connected home strategy. Down 26% this year, the company has a market cap of $2.8 billion. It will report earnings after the bell on Wednesday. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
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