Amazon, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported its most recent quarterly results after markets closed Thursday. Shares saw a big pop in the after-hours session on an incredible report. Overall net sales rose sharply this quarter with a big boost from Amazon Web Services (AWS) which continues to grow exponentially. Bezos has to be happy with this report.
The e-commerce giant reported $0.52 in earnings per share (EPS) on $43.7 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.03 in EPS and $42.14 billion in revenue. The third quarter from last year had $0.52 in EPS and $32.71 billion in revenue.
In terms of its segments Amazon had:
- North America net sales increased 35%, year over year, to $25.45 billion.
- International net sales increased 29% to $13.71 billion.
- AWS increased 42% to $4.58 billion.
As for the fourth quarter guidance, operating income is expected to be between $300 million and $1.65 billion, compared with $1.3 billion in the same period last year. At the same time revenues are expected in the range of $56.0 billion to $60.5 billion. The consensus estimates are calling for $1.74 in EPS and $58.94 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter.
The firm also casually mentioned that it expects to create more than 120,000 seasonal jobs in its U.S. network of fulfillment centers, sortation centers, and customer service sites.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, commented:
In the last month alone, we’ve launched five new Alexa-enabled devices, introduced Alexa in India, announced integration with BMW, surpassed 25,000 skills, integrated Alexa with Sonos speakers, taught Alexa to distinguish between two voices, and more. Because Alexa’s brain is in the AWS cloud, her new abilities are available to all Echo customers, not just those who buy a new device. And it’s working — customers have purchased tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices, given Echo devices over 100,000 5-star reviews, and active customers are up more than 5x since the same time last year. With thousands of developers and hardware makers building new Alexa skills and devices, the Alexa experience will continue to get even better.
Shares of Amazon closed Thursday at $972.43, with a consensus analyst price target of $1,163.93 and a 52-week range of $710.10 to $1,083.31. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was initially up over 7% at $1,044.64 in the after-hours session.
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