Amazon shares increased 3% in extended trading on Thursday after the company released its first-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street’s expectations for earnings and revenue. According to the data by Refinitiv, The earnings predicted by the analysts was $9.54 per share but the company reported $15.79 per share. The revenue expected $104.47 billion but the revenue reported $108.52 billion.
Few companies have benefited from the pandemic-fueled increase of online shopping as much as Amazon. The first-quarter results showed the company’s business continues to be buoyed by the pandemic with the sales climbing 44% year over year to $108.5 billion.
Amazon also reported that its market-leading cloud business grew revenue 32% in the first quarter, a faster pace than analysts had expected and accelerated from 28% growth in the fourth quarter. The Amazon Web Services division is critical to Amazon expansion plans, thanks to its profitability. It appeared in 2006, before rivals such as Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, and today it has become a force in information technology as a top global software provider, exceeding the likes of Oracle and SAP.
The company fixed the prime day sale in June this year. Last year due to the pandemic the prime day was shifted to October. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gave a glimpse into how the company’s streaming service, Prime Video, has fared during the pandemic, as stuck-at-home consumers have relied on online entertainment. Prime Video is a key offering of the company’s Prime subscription service. Jeff added that the Prime Video turns 10, over 175 million Prime members have streamed shows and movies in the past year, and streaming hours are up more than 70% year over year.
A Prime subscription costs $119 a year and includes a range of other benefits, such as free, two-day shipping. Bezos disclosed earlier this month that the company now has 200 million Prime subscribers, 50 million more than it had at the start of 2020
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