First Quarter Results Exceed Market Expectations
Second Quarter Revenue Forecast Also Surpasses Estimates
Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company, announced on May 1 (local time) that it recorded $155.67 billion in revenue and $1.59 in earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter of this year (January to March).
This exceeds Wall Street's average expectations compiled by market research firm LSEG, which projected $155.04 billion in revenue and $1.36 in EPS.
Revenue increased by 9% compared to the same period last year. Total profit surged by 64% to $17.13 billion, up from $10.43 billion a year ago.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud service division, posted $29.27 billion in revenue, falling short of the market expectation of $29.42 billion. While this represents 17% growth from a year earlier, it is lower than the market's expected growth rate of 17.4%. Previously, rival cloud service providers Microsoft and Google reported cloud revenue increases of 33% and 28%, respectively, for the same period.
Online advertising revenue grew 19% year-on-year to $13.92 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations of $13.74 billion.
Amazon projected that second-quarter revenue would reach between $159 billion and $164 billion, representing 7% to 11% growth compared to last year. The midpoint of this range exceeds Wall Street's expected revenue of $160.9 billion.
On the New York Stock Exchange, Amazon shares closed up 3.13% during regular trading hours, but were down about 3% in after-hours trading following the earnings announcement.
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