Amazon Q3 Sales & Profits Skyrocket, Stock Falls
Amazon’s profits were up 48% in the fiscal third quarter - beating Wall Street expectations - but a cooler Q4 outlook disappointed investors and sent its stock plummeting, writes MarketWatch.
Net income was $118 million (27 cents per diluted share), vs. $80 million (19 cents per share) in 3Q07.
Revenue in Q3 was $4.26 billion, a 31% increase over the same period last year but still slightly down from analyst’s $4.27 billion projection. (Amazon had set its own guidance range at $4.20 - $4.43 billion.)
Fourth quarter revenue will likely fall between $6-7 billion, a 6-23% increase from 4Q07, Amazon said. The full-year net sales forecast of $18.46 billion - $19.46 billion would mean 24-31% growth from 2007.
Worldwide Media sales grew 19% to $2.49 billion, compared with $2.09 billion in 3Q07.
Sales in the international segment (Amazon’s UK, German, Japanese, French and Chinese sites) reached $1.96 billion, a 33% increase from 3Q07 - though the number falls to 28% when favorable impact from foreign currencies is excluded.
Amazon again did not provide many details about the Kindle, its ebook reader. It did say that the number of Kindle titles on Amazon.com have doubled since the Nov. ‘07 launch and titles account for more than 10% of unit sales for books available in both digital and print formats, writes PaidContent.
Amazon stock prices have fallen about 40% in the past two months amid worries about the economy and concerns about internet retailers.