Amazon stock soars on first quarter profits

GlobalPost

Amazon.com did it again.

The online retailer posted first-quarter profits Thursday that blew by analysts' estimates and caused the company's stock to jump in extended trading, the Associated Press reported.

The best-selling Kindle and the Kindle Fire tablets helped increase revenue, even as growth looked poised to be slower than expected.

First quarter net income came in at $130 million, or 28 cents per share. That's off 44 cents a share or $201 million from last year, the AP wrote.

Still profits were higher than the expected 6 cents a share.

Revenue grew 34 percent to $13.18 billion, also beating the $12.91 billion expected by analysts.

Reuters reported shares leapt to $225 in after hours trading, further swelling the company's value which was already more than 70 times earnings.

Shares rose $28.51, or 14.6 percent, to $224.50 in extended trading after the release of results.

Now the question is what will the second quarter bring.

The company said it expects revenue in the second quarter to grow between 20 percent and 34 percent or to between $11.9 billion and $13.3 billion.

More from GlobalPost: Starbucks quarterly sales disappoint, shares fall sharply

Investors are happy that Amazon.com, which has been spending to expand its business is beginning to rein in expenses, Reuters wrote.

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