Amazon, a bellweather of the online retail market, reported a holiday quarter profit that exceeded Wall Street's estimates but fell short in revenue, a surprise that sent shares tumbling in after-hours trading.
For the fourth quarter, the company reported net income of $416 million, or 91 cents per share, an increase from the 85 cents reported for the same quarter a year earlier. Wall Street had been expecting 88 cents. Sales were up 36 percent from last year, coming in at $12.95 billion, but missed analysts' estimate of $13 billion. (Statement, Techmeme)
For the year, the company reported net income of $1.15 billion, or $2.53 per share, or sales of $34.2 billion, a 40 percent jump over 2009. In a statement, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said:
Thanks to our customers, we achieved two big milestones. We had our first $10 billion quarter, and after selling millions of third-generation Kindles with the new Pearl e-ink display during the quarter, Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com.
Among the quarter's highlights:
On a call with analysts today, company execs went out of their way to avoid tipping their hats on any details around Kindle sales. Clearly, it's a big seller and a big deal for the company - especially now that Kindle books have overtaken paperback books as the more popular format.
During the Q&A, the subject of Kindle came up and the responses were free of any real substance.
Looking ahead, the company projected first quarter revenue to be between $9.1 billion and $9.9 billion, up 28 percent to 39 percent over last year's first quarter. Wall Street had forecast sales of $9.4 billion for the quarter.
Shares of Amazon were up more than 5 percent in regular trading, closing at $184.45. But the gains were lost and shares continued to decline in after-hours trading, down nearly 10 percent.