Shares of tech giant Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) finished Thursday's session up nearly 2%, only to tumble more than 6% in after-hours trading following the company's Q2 earnings release. This sharp reversal underlines just how high expectations had gotten after the 40% rally from April's low.
The stock's multi-month move meant anything less than a near-perfect report risked triggering a wave of profit-taking, and that appears to be exactly what's happening already. As we'll see below, however, this is also creating a couple of interesting plays for investors to consider depending on their belief in Amazon's potential over the long run, and their near-term appetite for risk.
