Amazon.com Goes Negative

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Amazon.com (NAS: AMZN) reported earnings on Oct. 25. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 30 (Q3), Amazon.com met expectations on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly and GAAP earnings per share dropped to a loss.


Gross margins grew, operating margins shrank, net margins dropped.

Revenue details
 Amazon.com reported revenue of $13.81 billion. The 38 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected a top line of $13.91 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 27% higher than the prior-year quarter's $10.88 billion.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at -$0.23. The 27 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast -$0.06 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.61 for Q3 against $0.14 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 25.3%, 180 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -0.2%, 90 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -2.0%, 260 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $22.79 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.57.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $62.74 billion. The average EPS estimate is $0.86.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 5,303 members out of 6,628 rating the stock outperform, and 1,325 members rating it underperform. Among 1,638 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 1,357 give Amazon.com a green thumbs-up, and 281 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Amazon.com is outperform, with an average price target of $269.55.

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The article Amazon.com Goes Negative originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Amazon.com. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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