Amazon’s sales surge 44% as it smashes earnings expectations

Amazon shares climbed more than 3% in extended trading Thursday after the company released its first-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street’s expectations for earnings and revenue.

Here’s how the e-commerce giant fared, relative to analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv:

Earnings: $15.79 per share vs. $9.54 per share expected
Revenue: $108.52 billion vs. $104.47 billion expected
Few companies have benefited from the pandemic-fueled surge of online shopping as much as Amazon. Its first-quarter results showed the company’s business continues to be buoyed by the pandemic, with sales soaring 44% year over year to $108.5 billion.

Amazon’s guidance for the second quarter implies that it expects the momentum to continue, which should help allay investor fears that business could slow in a post-pandemic environment. The company expects to post revenue between $110 billion and $116 billion, surpassing Wall Street’s projection of $108.6 billion.

Crucially, Amazon confirmed in its guidance that this year’s Prime Day will take place in June, which will likely help year-over-year comparisons for revenue in the second quarter. Typically, Amazon’s annual, two-day discount bonanza takes place in July, but the company postponed the event to October last year amid pandemic-related uncertainty.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also gave a rare 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. “As 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,” Bezos said in the earnings release.

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.

Amazon’s sales surge 44% as it smashes earnings expectations, CNBC, Apr 30