Amazon's plans
Amazon's announcement last week that it would start charging sales tax in Minnesota set off speculation about the company's plans. The reason is that the online retailer isn't required to charge sales tax in Minnesota unless it has a physical presence here. Analyst Gene Munster, who covers Amazon for Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis, offered a couple of potential scenarios, including a new distribution center. "They could have one right now being built, and we wouldn't know about it, as crazy as that sounds," said Munster. Or it could be something less elaborate. "They could have a warehouse here in Prior Lake that is just filled with servers," Munster said, using the suburb as a random example.
Three upgrades
Three Minnesota companies got upgrades this week. On Monday Samuel Darkatsh from Raymond James & Associates upgraded Bloomington-based Toro Co. from "market perform" to "outperform." On Tuesday, Colin Rusch from Northland Securities raised Edina-based Apogee Enterprises from a "market perform" to an "outperform." And on Wednesday, Stephen Anderson from Miller Tabak & Co. raised his recommendation on St. Louis Park-based Buffalo Wild Wings from "hold" to "buy."
Patrick Kennedy
