Amazon Green Lights Cortes Series, Lifts Digital Media Sales

Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) film production division, Amazon Studios, has greenlit a four-hour miniseries, Cortes. The series is based on the epic saga of a Spanish conqueror, Hernan Cortes.

Though the timing for the production of the series is yet to be known, Prime members will be able to watch the series via Amazon Video app on TVs, and connected devices like mobile, Fire TV, and online at Amazon.com/originals, at no additional cost.

Amazon has outperformed the industry it belongs to on a 12-month basis. The company’s shares have gained 63.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 54%.

More on the Headlines

Cortes is a dramatic and an adventurous series that revolves around a legendary conqueror, Hernan Cortes. It is part of history that had a significant impact on and largely influenced modern day civilizations.

The series is written by academy award-winner Steven Zaillian and based on the screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. Zaillian, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey are set to be the executive producers of the series. Oscar winner, Javier Bardem, will play the title role. He is also the executive producer.

Our Take

Amazon’s increasing original program series offerings are expected to help it diversify online content and make a mark for itself. The company is making all efforts to boost its digital media sales and attract new viewers, by adding varied series and movies to its content lineup, and making Prime Video more attractive.

We believe that these initiatives will be incrementally beneficial to the company, helping it to add Prime subscribers and retain older ones in the United States as well as in the international market, going forward.

Moreover, these will help the company withstand stiff competition from other service providers such as Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Inc., HBO, Hulu and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA).

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Amazon has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the technology sector are Stamps.com Inc. (NASDAQ:STMP) , PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) and ASOS (LON:ASOS) Plc (OTC:ASOMY) . While Stamps.com sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), PetMed and ASOS Plc carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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