Amazon is biggest winner after adding $600bn in stock market value

But analysts say further sharp gains will be hard earned

After underperforming other megacaps for most of the past two years, Amazon shares broke out in the second quarter and have continued to rise amid the firm’s cost-cutting efforts and signs that its cloud business is stabilizing.

Analysts are almost universally optimistic about Amazon, one of the biggest winners this earnings season after posting results in early August. But further near-term gains may be harder to come by.

Fuelled by resurgent profit and revenue growth, shares of the e-commerce and cloud-computing company have risen 5% this month while Apple, Microsoft Corp, Google-owner Alphabet, and chip maker Nvidia have all fallen. But, after adding nearly $600bn (€550bn) in market value this year and with earnings out of the way, some say a fresh spark is needed amid signs of a stalling big tech rally.