That came as it held costs for marketing and package delivery in check. But helped by surging revenue, it has begun to turn a bigger profit more frequently, although results vary quarter to quarter.
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“When it is good, it is great: particularly as the business shifted to higher growth across a matrix of operating segments, product categories, and geographies in the second quarter”, said William Blair analyst Mark Miller.
And if you thought Microsoft’s cloud computing business did well, then take a look at Amazon web services which includes its cloud business – revenue soared more than 80 percent. Sales climbed 81 percent to $1.8 billion, while operating income quintupled to $391 million.
In the UK, Amazon snapped up London model and actress Suki Waterhouse to front its first fashion advertising campaign in an aggressive new challenge to the high street.
“We continue to view Prime as one of the most important drivers of growth for Amazon and believe that this campaign will only strengthen its perceived value among consumers”, Jaffray said. The company also said it got hundreds of thousands of new signups from its Prime Day promotion.
The e-commerce giant said net income was $92 million, or 19 cents a share, in the three months ended June 30. The street had expected the e-commerce behemoth to lose $0.14 per share on revenue of $22.39 billion.
Net sales were up 20% to $23.18bn, compared with $19.34bn for Q2 2014.
The company’s forecast for the current quarter ranges from a net loss of $480 million to a profit of $70 million, compared with a net loss of $544 million in the year-ago period. Amazon was already up 55 percent in 2015 through Thursday’s close, while Wal-Mart has slid 16 percent. The stock showed a positive movement of +15.20% and was recently trading at $555.45.
Inspite of Amazon’s gains in market value, Wal-Mart remains the leader in sales. A more recent example of Bezos’ investment plans, is the $5 Billion he plans to pump into Amazon’s Indian subsidiary.
Amazon, considered a new-media pioneer as well as an online retailer, already sports a market cap exceeding that of Walt Disney and Comcast, two of the world’s premier media conglomerates.
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Amazon overtook Walmart on Thursday night to become the largest US retailer by market capitalisation, after announcing a rare profit.
