Amazon earnings report: Profits jump, but shares slump
Amazon's profit soared to nearly $3 billion in the third quarter, fueled by the growth of online shopping and its cloud-computing service. But the online retailer's revenue and forward guidance didn't meet Wall Street expectations, and shares of Amazon fell Thursday in after-hours trading.
The Seattle-based company reported profit of $2.88 billion, or $5.75 per share, easily beating the $3.29 per share analyst expected, according to Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue rose 29 percent to $56.58 billion, but that was below the $57.05 billion analysts expected. Sales were $43.7 billion in the year-earlier period.
For the current quarter ending in December, Amazon said it expects revenue in the range of $66.5 billion to $72.5 billion. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $73.87 billion.
Amazon shares have risen 53 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased slightly more than 1 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $1,784.19, a rise of 83 percent in the last 12 months.
In after-hours trading on Thursday, shares traded 7.7 percent lower, giving up $137 to $1,645.
