Amazon.com Inc.'s AMZN, -0.65% price target is now $2,300 at Wells Fargo, up from $2,110, with analysts forecasting that the e-commerce giant will become the top U.S. apparel seller in 2018. Citing Euromonitor data, Wells Fargo notes that Amazon was the second largest apparel seller in 2017, following Walmart Inc. WMT, +1.25% But Amazon accounted for one-third of the retail growth in the second quarter, with e-commerce penetration gaining. Amazon is snapping up web-browsing time and new customers with nearly $25 billion in merchandise was sold on Amazon platforms last year, according to Wells Fargo. "[W]hereas only 1.4% of apparel and footwear sales were done on Amazon's platforms in 2012, this figure grew to 7.2% last year and will likely be in the 8.5%-9.0% range in 2018 (by our estimation)," analysts led by Ike Boruchow wrote. Amazon shares have climbed more than 101% over the past year, outpacing the SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT, +1.02% which is up 29% for the period, and the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.30% which is up 17% for the last 12 months.
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