Amazon shares fell more than 5% in extended trading on Thursday after the company reported its first revenue miss in three years and gave weak third-quarter guidance.
Here’s how the company did:
- Earnings: $15.12 vs $12.30 per share, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv
- Revenue: $113.08 billion vs $115.2 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv
Amazon’s revenue grew by 27% year over year to $113.08 billion, that’s a significant slowdown from the second quarter of 2020, when sales skyrocketed 41% year over year.
On a call with reporters, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky blamed tough year-over-year comparisons its business during Covid-19 lockdowns. In mid-May of last year, Amazon saw growth rates jump to between 35% to 45%.
“We’re starting to lap that and that’s why you see some of the growth rate coming down,” Olsavsky said.
For the third quarter, Amazon said it expects to book sales between $106 billion and $112 billion, representing growth of 10% to 16% compared to the same period last year. That’s well below consensus estimates of $119.2 billion.
Amazon said its operating profit in the third quarter will be in the range of $2.5 billion and $6 billion, a notably wide gap. That’s still a step down from the $6.2 billion of costs it incurred from coronavirus safety measures in the third quarter of 2020.
The June quarter reflects the last full quarter of Jeff Bezos’ tenure as CEO. On July 5, Bezos handed the role of CEO over to Andy Jassy, who previously led AWS. Bezos is now executive chairman. It’s unclear if Jassy will take part in Amazon’s post-earnings conference call Thursday evening. Bezos hasn’t participated in an earnings call since 2009.
In a statement, Jassy thanked Amazon employees for their work during the coronavirus pandemic, and added, “I am very excited to work with you as we invent and build for the future.”
The other pillar of Amazon’s business, Amazon Web Services, grew its revenue 37% in the second quarter, faster than 32% growth in the previous quarter. AWS revenue came in at $14.81 billion in the quarter, surpassing analysts’ estimated $14.20 billion.
Amazon’s headcount continues to swell. At the end of the third quarter, Amazon employed 1.33 million people worldwide, up 52% year over year.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
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