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Amazon’s quarterly revenues increased 11 per cent to hit $159bn, beating analyst estimates, and an upbeat sales forecast sent its shares up as much as 7 per cent in after-hours trading.
The Seattle-based company said on Thursday it expected net sales in the current quarter to come in between $181.5bn-$188.5bn, in line with analyst forecasts for $186.4bn.
Net income for the three months to the end of September was $15.3bn, comfortably ahead of analysts’ estimates of $12.2bn, and up more than 50 per cent on a year earlier.
Sales at Amazon Web Services, a crucial profit engine for the ecommerce group, were up 19 per cent year on year, to $27.5bn, on the back of growing demand from AI businesses for its cloud computing services.
Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, said recent retail events such as the company’s Prime day had “significantly outperformed our expectations.” Shares of Amazon are up almost 25 per cent in the year to date.
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