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Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:05pm EDT
By A. Barr
Amazon.com Inc's quarterly earnings beat Wall Street's most bullish expectations
as the world's largest Internet retailer brought costs under control and
saw early success selling more digital products through its
new Kindle Fire tablet, sending its shares up almost 15 percent.
Investors cheered first-quarter earnings that came in
several times above average forecasts, saying the Internet
giant, which has been spending aggressively on expansion, is
beginning to rein in expenses.
Amazon is spending in three main areas: fulfillment centers
to support online retail; video content and other media
businesses; and infrastructure for its cloud computing service.
Among its latest ventures is the Kindle Fire, the tablet that
competes with Apple Inc's iPad, that some analysts say
the company is selling at breakeven or a small loss.
Executives told analysts on a conference call they were
pleased with growth in sales of the digital content that the
Kindle and Kindle Fire are designed to accelerate.
"The biggest concern has been margins. A lot of investors
have been looking for the company to demonstrate that it could
get leverage on all of these investments it's been making," said
Caris & Co analyst Scott Tilghman.
The situation for Amazon now resembled "what we saw back in
the 2004 to 2006 time frame when the company was making a lot of
investments and margins got squeezed. Then in the years
following, margins expanded and revenue accelerated. It looks
like the company is in that position right now."
Shares in the company leapt to $225 in extended trading,
further swelling the company's already lofty valuation of more
than 70 times earnings.
BY THE NUMBERS
In comparison, the 12-month forward price-earnings ratio for
the S&P 500 stands at about 12, while Apple is trading at 13
times forward earnings.
Amazon reported net income fell to $130 million or 28 cents
per diluted share in the first quarter, versus $201 million or
44 cents a year ago. But that was far above the average Wall
Street forecast for 7 cents a share.
First-quarter revenue of $13.18 billion, up 34 percent from
a year earlier, was ahead of Wall Street estimates for $12.9
billion. Operating income was $192 million, compared with $322
million a year earlier.
"This looks like a quarter that has something for everyone,
growth and margins to satisfy investors. This was a perfect
balance. It looks to me there was a follow-through for the
Kindle and Kindle Fire in the re-acceleration of growth in
media," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan.
Amazon shares rose to $225 in after-hours trading from a
close of $195.99.
"We were expecting 15 cents EPS ... and we were probably the
high end of the Street of where the margins were," said Evercore
Partners analyst Ken Sena.
"You are starting from a very low point: modest improvement
on a percentage basis. It looks pretty good. I think the margins
have a long way to go, but I think at least to see them moving
in the right direction is an encouraging sign."
UPDATE 3-Amazon trounces Street targets, shares soar | Reuters
AMZN vola in after hours dopo la comunicazione trimestrale su utili, margini etc.
By A. Barr
Amazon.com Inc's quarterly earnings beat Wall Street's most bullish expectations
as the world's largest Internet retailer brought costs under control and
saw early success selling more digital products through its
new Kindle Fire tablet, sending its shares up almost 15 percent.
Investors cheered first-quarter earnings that came in
several times above average forecasts, saying the Internet
giant, which has been spending aggressively on expansion, is
beginning to rein in expenses.
Amazon is spending in three main areas: fulfillment centers
to support online retail; video content and other media
businesses; and infrastructure for its cloud computing service.
Among its latest ventures is the Kindle Fire, the tablet that
competes with Apple Inc's iPad, that some analysts say
the company is selling at breakeven or a small loss.
Executives told analysts on a conference call they were
pleased with growth in sales of the digital content that the
Kindle and Kindle Fire are designed to accelerate.
"The biggest concern has been margins. A lot of investors
have been looking for the company to demonstrate that it could
get leverage on all of these investments it's been making," said
Caris & Co analyst Scott Tilghman.
The situation for Amazon now resembled "what we saw back in
the 2004 to 2006 time frame when the company was making a lot of
investments and margins got squeezed. Then in the years
following, margins expanded and revenue accelerated. It looks
like the company is in that position right now."
Shares in the company leapt to $225 in extended trading,
further swelling the company's already lofty valuation of more
than 70 times earnings.
BY THE NUMBERS
In comparison, the 12-month forward price-earnings ratio for
the S&P 500 stands at about 12, while Apple is trading at 13
times forward earnings.
Amazon reported net income fell to $130 million or 28 cents
per diluted share in the first quarter, versus $201 million or
44 cents a year ago. But that was far above the average Wall
Street forecast for 7 cents a share.
First-quarter revenue of $13.18 billion, up 34 percent from
a year earlier, was ahead of Wall Street estimates for $12.9
billion. Operating income was $192 million, compared with $322
million a year earlier.
"This looks like a quarter that has something for everyone,
growth and margins to satisfy investors. This was a perfect
balance. It looks to me there was a follow-through for the
Kindle and Kindle Fire in the re-acceleration of growth in
media," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan.
Amazon shares rose to $225 in after-hours trading from a
close of $195.99.
"We were expecting 15 cents EPS ... and we were probably the
high end of the Street of where the margins were," said Evercore
Partners analyst Ken Sena.
"You are starting from a very low point: modest improvement
on a percentage basis. It looks pretty good. I think the margins
have a long way to go, but I think at least to see them moving
in the right direction is an encouraging sign."
UPDATE 3-Amazon trounces Street targets, shares soar | Reuters
AMZN vola in after hours dopo la comunicazione trimestrale su utili, margini etc.