Amazon revealed earnings per share of $5.80, which single-handedly beat the $3.57 expected. Revenue came short of the $137.6 billion mark, at $137.4 billion, marking a 9.4% increase. Also, it was Amazon’s single-digit growth since 2017.
For the first time, Amazon recorded revenue from its fast-growing advertising business. The segment jumped 32% year-over-year to $9.7 billion. Despite being a tangential business for Amazon, it was the third most successful in the US market, behind Google and Facebook.
The cloud computing business was also impressive. Amazon Web Services brought in $17.78 billion in revenue, marking a 40% increase and topping analysts’ estimates.
In the quarter, Amazon raised the price of Prime membership for the first time in four years. The price change will be implemented for new members on February 18 and current members after March 25.
The company expects sales to be as high as $117 billion for the March quarter.
At the moment of writing, Amazon’s stock price was trading more than 12% higher.
Sources: barrons.com, cnbc.com