Amazon.com continues to innovate and raise the bar even as 4Q cloud-computing sales and the tech company’s outlook for 1Q came below analysts’ expectations, AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth writes in a research note. “Fundamentally, Amazon remains in great shape,” he says. The group can afford to try new things and even fail with some experiments because it generates significant cash flow, Coatsworth notes. This strength should be recognized by investors, he adds. Amazon shares are down 2.7% premarket at $232.33.

Amazon.com (AMZN) reported Q4 earnings late Thursday of $1.86 per diluted share, up from $1 a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $1.49. Net sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose to $187.79 billion from $169.96 billion a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $187.31 billion. The company expects Q1 net sales of $151 billion and $155.5 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect $158.56 billion. The company expects operating income for the quarter between $14 billion and $18 billion, compared with $15.3 billion a year earlier.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported fourth-quarter financial results after the market close Thursday. Here are the key highlights. What Happened: Amazon.com reported fourth-quarter net sales of $187.8 billion, up 10% year-over-year. The net sales beat a Street consensus estimate of $187.3 billion according to data from Benzinga Pro. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.86, beating a Street consensus estimate of $1.48. By operating segment, here were the net sales: North America; $115.6 billion, +10% year-over-year International: $43.4 billion, +8% year-over-year AWS: $28.8 billion, +19% year-over-year. The company reported operating income of $21.2 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $13.2 billion in last year’s fourth quarter. Here was the operating income breakdown by segment, with last year’s fourth-quarter total in parentheses: North America: $9.3 billion ($6.5 billion) International: $1.3 billion (loss of $400 million) AWS: $10.6 billion ($7.2 billion) “The holiday shopping season was the most successful yet for Amazon

Amazon.com shares slipped Thursday after it projected weaker-than-expected sales for the first quarter, even as it spent a record amount on capital expenditure to build infrastructure for artificial-intelligence services. The company’s net sales rose 10% from a year earlier to $187.79 billion for the three months through December. Its net income was $20 billion. Its sales were in line with analysts’ expectations, while its profit was higher than predicted. Revenue from Amazon’s cloud-computing unit, Amazon Web Services, grew 19% to $28.79 billion, slightly lower than the $28.87 billion that analysts polled by FactSet had expected. Analysts said they were closely monitoring this number after  disappointing cloud-computing results from Alphabet and Microsoft. The company projected net sales to be between $151 billion and $155.5 billion, lower than the $158.56 billion that Wall Street was expecting. Amazon stock — which has climbed around 40% in the past 12 months — fell around

Amazon (AMZN) late Thursday reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results, though the e-commerce giant’s revenue outlook for the first quarter fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Per-share earnings jumped to $1.86 for the three months through Dec. 31 from $1 a year earlier, topping the FactSet-polled GAAP consensus of $1.49. Sales increased 10% year-over-year to $187.79 billion, higher than the Street’s $187.31 billion view. Amazon expects first-quarter revenue of $151 billion to $155.5 billion, reflecting annual growth between 5% and 9%. Analysts were looking for $158.56 billion. The guidance reflects “an unusually large, unfavorable impact” of about $2.1 billion tied to foreign exchange rates, the company said. In addition, the 2024 first quarter benefited from the leap year impact, which added roughly $1.5 billion in sales. Shares were down 2.2% in after-hours trading. For the final quarter of 2024, sales at the Amazon Web Services cloud computing division rose 19% annually to