Amazon reported earnings after the bell. Here are the results.
- Earnings: $1.43 vs $1.14 per share expected by LSEG
- Revenue: $158.88 billion vs $157.2 billion expected by LSEG
Wall Street is also watching several other numbers in the report:
- Amazon Web Services: $27.5 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- Advertising: $14.3 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
The company warned in its most recent earnings report that sales in the third quarter could take a hit due to the unusually busy news cycle. Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said in August that the company observed shoppers were distracted by a combination of world events, including the Paris Olympics and the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July.
“Customers only have so much attention,” Olsavsky said at the time, and those factors made it “a tough quarter to forecast.”
Wall Street is projecting revenue growth of roughly 10% during the quarter, which would mark the fifth straight quarter of expansion in the low double digits and a slight deceleration from a year earlier, when sales increased 12.6%.
Earnings are growing much faster, due largely to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s widespread cost-cutting efforts. Beginning in 2022 and extending through 2024, Amazon initiated the largest layoffs in its history, cutting more than 27,000 jobs. Jassy has taken a harder line on the company’s unproven, costlier bets than his predecessor, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The company has continued to restructure its teams this year, announcing last week that it would discontinue its Amazon Today rapid delivery service. A small number of employees were laid off as a result, CNBC reported.
Amazon is expected to report operating income of $14.7 billion during the quarter, up more than 31% from a year earlier, according to StreetAccount. The company in August guided for operating income between $11.5 billion and $15 billion.
Wall Street has applauded Jassy’s campaign to rein in expenses, with Amazon shares up about 23% year to date. The Nasdaq has gained roughly 30% over the same stretch.
“I think what’s changed over the last, call it year or two, is the relatively newer CEO has launched off on driving a real amount of operating income and profit margin on the retail business,” Brad Erickson, a senior analyst at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. “And so that is what I think has brought on a whole new group of investors and is keeping a whole new group of investors in this name.”
Amazon and Apple, which also reports quarterly results Thursday, round out a busy week of tech earnings. Google parent Alphabet posted third-quarter earnings that topped expectations, helped by blowout results in its cloud unit. Microsoft and Meta released earnings reports Wednesday.
During the third quarter, Amazon held its annual Prime Day megasale in July. Amazon said it hauled in “record-breaking sales” from Prime Day, though it didn’t disclose specific figures. Online spending in the U.S. climbed 11% year over year to a record $14.2 billion during the promotion event, according to Adobe Analytics data. That was roughly in line with expectations of $14 billion in sales.
Analysts are eager for an update from Amazon executives on the company’s plans for its Project Kuiper satellite internet service. Amazon has said it expects to invest more than $10 billion to build a network of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit that will provide high-speed broadband internet services to people around the world who lack such access. Third-party analysts have estimated Amazon may need to shell out up to $20 billion to get the project off the ground, GeekWire reported, citing data from market research firm Quilty Space.
“While there are risks to timing/success of satellite launches and regulatory milestones, the downside is quantifiable, with mgmt guiding to $10B lifetime investment,” said Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein, pointing to the success of SpaceX’s Starlink as an indicator. The firm has an outperform rating on Amazon’s stock.
“We see a significant long-term revenue opportunity, with a target audience >1 billion people,” Helfstein added.
Amazon launched its first two prototype satellites into orbit last October atop a United Launch Alliance rocket. The company postponed its first full-scale Kuiper mission to early 2025 rather than the first half of the year as its rocket provider ULA prioritizes two U.S. Space Force missions.
Amazon will discuss the report on a conference call with analysts at 5 p.m. ET. The press hasn’t received an invitation to a media call typically held with Olsavsky after the company releases its earnings results.
WATCH: What to expect from Meta and Amazon earnings
