Amazon.com Inc. reported first-quarter revenue and profit on Thursday that trounced analysts’ estimates, driven by a surge in online shopping and higher demand for its cloud services.
Amazon, whose shares were up more than six per cent in after-hours trading, forecast net sales of between $51 billion US and $54 billion US for the current quarter.
Net sales in North America, its biggest market, jumped 46.4 per cent to $30.73 billion US in the latest quarter.
Amazon, which reported it had over 100 million Prime subscribers last week, said its net sales rose to $51.04 billion US from $35.7 billion US, a year earlier, beating the average analyst estimate of $49.78 billion US.
Revenue from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s fast-growing cloud services business, soared 48.6 per cent to $5.44 billion US, beating the average analyst estimate of $5.25 billion US, according Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Amazon’s total operating expenses rose 41.5 per cent to $49.12 billion US, as the company invests heavily into expanding its Prime program, creating original video content and building its warehouse and delivery infrastructure.