Amazon On A Hiring Spree, To Add More Than 2K Jobs In Britain

Job creation doesn’t come as a surprise from an industry leader like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) .

The retail giant, which is one of the world’s fastest growing companies with fingers in almost every pie, recently announced plans of hiring new positions in Britain this year.

The company will add more than 2,000 permanent jobs in Britain to meet the increasing demand for products. These positions will include engineers, software developers and data scientists, among others. The objective of this move is to develop its latest technology ventures related to cloud and machine learning.

Approximately 170 of the new workers will work in development centers located in Cambridge, Edinburgh and London. These centers use new technologies such as the voice-recognition tool Alexa and drones for delivery service.

The latest move aligns with Amazon’s motto of striving to automate its fulfillment centers around the world. These innovative technologies shorten the time taken to sort and pack products, thereby strengthening same-day or overnight delivery services.

In addition, the technologies aim to provide better services to customers, accommodating rapid growth and leveraging the area’s diverse high-technology talent pool.

Amazon.com, Inc. Price and Consensus

Amazon.com, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Amazon.com, Inc. Quote

Growth Expansion Continues

Amazon has been adding employees to U.K. workforce over the past few years. Last year, the company added 2,500 permanent jobs in Britain, its biggest market in Europe. These new additions will bring the total workforce of the country to approximately 30,000 by 2019-end.

Recently, the retail giant announced plans to hire 1,800 new positions in France this year.

All these endeavors make sense as the company continues to open new fulfillment centers across Europe, and invest in logistics, cloud computing as well as machine learning.

Notably, Amazon’s shares have outperformed the industry it belongs to on a 12-month basis. The company’s shares have gained 14.2% against the industry’s decline of 6.3% in the said period.

We believe investors are encouraged by its international expansion, grocery initiatives and efforts toward Amazon Web Services. The company capitalizes on execution strength, robust performance and technological prowess.

Bottom Line

Amazon has been expanding on a global basis in a bid to maintain supremacy. The company is investing more in fulfillment, technology and content. Its focus on automating distribution centers is clearly heating up and investment in robotics should continue to pay off.

The latest step to recruit more personnel in Britain clearly demonstrates that Amazon is focused on expanding operations in the country and delivering enhanced services to more customers. Consequently, the company is likely to achieve growth targets going forward.

Although increased expenses could hurt the bottom line in the near term, we believe that these measures are necessary to maintain its dominance in this highly competitive market.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) , Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) and Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHX) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Long-term earnings growth for Autohome, Match Group and Marchex is currently projected at 20.9%, 15.2% and 15%, respectively.

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