Amazon (AMZN) Just Had an Amazing Quarter With a Record Revenue

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), founded in 1994, initially started operating as an online book selling company. Over the years, it expanded and added almost every product one can think of to its online marketplace. Today, it is among the top tech giants of the world, holding a major share in the global e-commerce market.

The Seattle, Washington-based company just had an amazing quarter. The company on Tuesday reported strong financial results for the fourth quarter, helped by record online sales driven by the pandemic. Amazon reported earnings of $7.2 billion, or $14.09 per share for the three months ended Dec. 30, representing a surge of more than two-folds from $3.3 billion, or $6.47 per share in the comparable period of 2019. Analysts on average were expecting the company to report a profit of $7.34 per share.

Revenue jumped 44 percent on a year-over-year basis to $125.6 billion, easily beating the consensus forecast of $119.7 billion. This was the first time that Amazon’s total sales crossed $100 billion in a quarter, thanks to the tremendous demand driven by the pandemic.

Amazon shares marginally moved down on Wednesday morning despite reporting impressive quarterly results. The latest drop apparently follows CEO Jeff Bezos’ decision to step down from his position.

Following is the brief sales performance summary of the company’s key segments.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Revenue at AWS, which also includes cloud-computing business, rose 28 percent on a year-over-year basis to $12.7 billion, accounting for about 10 percent of the total revenue. The quarterly sales growth at AWS was the slowest in nearly 5 years and missed the consensus forecast of $12.83 billion. Nevertheless, AWS is still leading the global cloud services market and is well ahead of rivals.

Other Category

Amazon’s “other” segment, which mostly depends on its advertising business, generated revenue of $7.9 billion in the quarter, translating to a surge of 64 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Physical Store Segment

Revenue from Amazon’s physical store business, led by Whole Foods Market, fell 8 percent on a year-over-year basis, mainly due to the Covid-19 crisis that sent foot traffic down. Most people preferred online shopping options over physically going to stores for buying grocery.