• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 30, 2019

Citing a “noticeable uptick in enthusiasm for Amazon’s ad business,” Wall Street securities firm BMO Capital Markets upgraded its outlook for Amazon’s ad revenues for the fourth quarter of 2018, as well as full years 2019 and 2020.

“This marks one of the most significant reinforcements of our thesis on Amazon,” BMO equities research analyst Daniel Salmon wrote in a note sent to investors this morning.

Salmon’s thesis calls for the emergence of Amazon’s advertising business to contribute to a share value to grow 44% to $2,300 price target, and he continues to maintain an “outperform” rating.

“We now estimate $9.21 billion in advertising revenue in 2018 (versus our prior $9.06 billion), $13.72 billion in 2019 (versus our prior $12.97 billion), and $18.71 billion in 2020 (versus our prior $17.58 billion),” Salmon explains.