Amazon shares rose as much as 8% in extended trading on Thursday after the e-retailer reported first-quarter revenue that topped analysts’ estimates.
Here are the key numbers:
- Earnings: 31 cents per share
- Revenue: $127.4 billion vs $124.5 billion expected, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv
Here’s how other key Amazon segments did during the quarter:
- Amazon Web Services: $21.3 billion vs. $21.22 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- Advertising: $9.5 billion vs. $9.1 billion, according to StreetAccount
It is not immediately clear if the reported earnings are comparable to the Refinitiv analyst estimate of 21 cents per share.
For the second quarter, Amazon said revenue will be $127 billion to $133 billion. Analysts had called for sales of $129.8 billion, according to Refinitiv.
“Our advertising business continues to deliver robust growth, largely due to our ongoing machine learning investments that help customers see relevant information when they engage with us, which in turn delivers unusually strong results for brands,” CEO Andy Jassy said in the earnings statement.
Jassy said that while AWS continues to navigate more cautious spending from cloud customers, he believes “there’s much growth ahead,” pointing to the company’s investments in large language models.
Revenue increased 9% from $116.4 billion a year earlier. While the figure exceeded expectations, Amazon remains mired in single-digit sales growth coming off its weakest year for expansion in its quarter-century as a public company.
The second-quarter forecast suggests Amazon expects sales to rise between 5% and 10% from the same period a year earlier.
Sales at Amazon Web Services rose about 16% in the first quarter to $21.35 billion, above the $21.22 billion projected by Wall Street. Still, that’s a deceleration from the previous quarter, when AWS grew 20%. Companies have been trimming their cloud spend in recent months amid a challenging economic environment.
Operating income in the quarter rose to $4.77 billion from $3.67 billion a year earlier. The company is still dependent on AWS for its profitability, as the cloud unit generated operating income of $5.1 billion in the quarter.
Prior to the after-hours rally, Amazon shares were up 31% for the year after losing roughly half their value in 2022.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
