Amazon's stock shot up 10 percent after the bell on Thursday following a fourth-quarter earnings report that showed steady growth for the tech giant.
The bump pushed the company’s stock closer to a $1 trillion market cap.
The results reflect a year of heavy investment for the company as it expanded customer benefits like one-day delivery and sought out larger clients for its profitable cloud computing business.
All the heightened spending has led to some concern among investors, but this latest report shows that the investments could be paying off.
Net sales for the quarter were $87.4 billion, compared with $72.4 billion last year. Total net sales for the year were $281 billion, compared to $233 billion in 2018.
Earnings per share were $6.47 compared with $6.04 last year. And net income was $3.3 billion compared with $3 billion last year.
Amazon.com sales in North America represented 61 percent of net sales, with year-over-year growth of 22 percent, while the international division made up 27 percent of sales, with year over year growth of 14 percent.
North American sales pulled in $1.9 billion in income after operating expenses, while internationally the company operated at a loss of $617 million.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the tech giant's cloud computing business that has come to dominate profits in recent years, made up 12 percent of net sales, with 34 percent year over year growth. The business generated $9.9 billion in income for the quarter.
The growth rate is still the lowest for AWS since Amazon started disclosing the unit's revenue in 2015, which analysts attribute to additional investments aimed at picking up larger clients.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos noted in the release that one-day and same-day delivery, which quadrupled from the same quarter last year, have helped drive sales. He also touted the growth in Amazon Prime memberships amid growing competition from other streaming services.
"Prime membership continues to get better for customers year after year. And customers are responding — more people joined Prime this quarter than ever before, and we now have over 150 million paid Prime members around the world," he said.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
