NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Amazon.com are slightly down at $367.35 in pre-market trading today as the company is reportedly in talks to buy the online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter, according to Women's Wear Daily. No deal has been confirmed and it could "still fall apart," a source told Forbes. The person also said if a deal is completed, it is likely to be at a lower price than the 2 billion euros, or $2.19 billion, reported by WWD, Forbes added. Seattle-based Amazon has long eyed the high-end fashion retail sector and any deal for Net-a-Porter would mean a new commitment in an area where the company lacks a strong presence, Forbes noted. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a 2012 interview with the New York Times that the company was making a "significant" investment in fashion to convince top brands that it wanted to work with them, not against them. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates AMAZON.COM INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed, some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, generally higher debt management risk and disappointing return on equity." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 1.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 14.6%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share. Net operating cash flow has increased to $6,715.00 million or 20.38% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of 8.40%. AMAZON.COM INC's earnings per share declined by 11.8% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past year. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, AMAZON.COM INC swung to a loss, reporting -$0.54 versus $0.58 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.48 versus -$0.54). The debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50 is relatively high when compared with the industry average, suggesting a need for better debt level management. Along with the unfavorable debt-to-equity ratio, AMZN maintains a poor quick ratio of 0.74, which illustrates the inability to avoid short-term cash problems. Current return on equity is lower than its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of weakness within the company. Compared to other companies in the Internet & Catalog Retail industry and the overall market, AMAZON.COM INC's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500. You can view the full analysis from the report here: AMZN Ratings Report Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 25 Stocks for 2015
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