Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares surged almost 8% on Friday after the e-commerce giant reported better-than-expected holiday quarter sales and offered a positive outlook for the coming months.
The e-commerce giant Amazon has reported net sales of $170 billion for the fourth quarter, outperforming expectations by $3.8 billion. This marks a 14% increase from the nearly $150 billion generated in the same period last year.
CEO Andy Jassy, in Reutersthe earnings release, said:
“This Q4 was a record-breaking Holiday shopping season and closed out a robust 2023 for Amazon.”
Key Metrics Beat Wall Street Forecasts
Here’s a quick rundown of Amazon’s key figures for the fourth quarter compared to Wall Street’s forecasts.
- Revenue: Amazon raked in $169.9 billion, above the expected $166.2 billion (compared to $149.2 billion in Q4 2022).
- Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.00, outperforming the expected $0.78 ($0.03 in Q4 2022).
- Amazon Web Services: The e-commerce giant reported $24.20 billion in revenue, slightly below the expected $24.22 billion ($21.4 billion in Q4 2022).
- Advertising: Amazon’s advertising revenue surged to $14.7 billion, outpacing the projected $14.2 billion ($11.6 billion in Q4 2022).
The company’s forecast for the current quarter also beat expectations, with an upper-range estimate of $143.5 billion.
This financial triumph comes on the heels of recent job cuts, including several hundred roles at Prime Video and MGM Studios and a significant reduction in staff at Twitch, the company’s video game live-streaming platform, where over 500 people were laid off.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Stock Reaction
AMZN stock rose 7.87% to close at $171.81 on Friday. The traders had exchanged hands with 115,957,720 (115.95 million) shares compared to the average daily trading volume of 47.20 million.
Amazon AMZN AMZN shares AMZN stock AMZN stock news Latest News on Amazon (AMZN) Stock
