Filed under: Earnings reports, Products and services, Competitive strategy, Amazon.com (AMZN)

Disproving reports that its growth days are behind it, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today reported quarterly results that far exceeded Wall Street estimates.

Net income at the No.1 e-tailer more than doubled to $158 million, or 37 cents a share, up from $78 million or 19 cents per share. Revenue jumped 41% to $4.06 billion. The New York Times noted that analysts had expected a 26 cent profit on sales of $3.96 billion. The results, though, weren’t good enough for Wall Street, and investors sent Amazon’s shares tumbling in after-hours trading.

One reason for the thumbs down may be that the company’s gross margins — always a concern with investors — contracted slightly. The company also maintained its revenue forecast for the current period. Maybe investors were expecting the company to boost earnings guidance as it benefits from shoppers bypassing malls and spending on gasoline in favor of shopping at home.

Skeptics, including me, have underestimated the company. Soleil Securities analyst Scott Tilghman told Bloomberg News that “There’s a misperception out there that e-commerce is much more mature than it actually is. They (Amazon) offer one-stop shopping and often better prices than bricks-and-mortar stores, which should offset any slowdown in consumer spending.”

Looks like he might have a point.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 2:13 am and is filed under Products and Services. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.