Amazon Stock Flat As Earnings, Revenue Beat Amid Cost Cutting

Amazon.com (AMZN) on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street targets amid cost-cutting by the e-commerce giant. Amazon stock climbed as cloud computing revenue growth decelerated less than expected, but shares were flat in recent action.

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Reported after the market close, Amazon earnings were 31 cents a share on an adjusted basis.

Revenue for AMZN stock climbed 9% to $127.4 billion. Meanwhile, analysts expected Amazon to report earnings of 21 cents a share on revenue of $124.6 billion.

Sales for its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, rose 16% to $21.4 billion, slowing from 37% growth in the year-earlier period. Analysts had projected AWS growth of 15% for the March quarter.

“AWS sales growth decelerated to 16%, coming in 1% above consensus but well above buyside expectations of 9% to 10% growth,” Jefferies analyst Brent Thill said in a note to clients.

Amazon Stock: Cost Cutting Moves

Ad revenue climbed 23% to $9.51 billion, handily beating estimates of $9.05 billion.

Amazon forecast June-quarter revenue of $130 billion at the midpoint of its outlook, in line with analyst estimates.

Also, Amazon said it expects second-quarter operating income of $3.8 billion at the midpoint of its outlook, below analyst estimates for $4.4 billion.

Amazon stock rose at first during extended trading on the stock market today. Shares jumped 12% on the initial earnings release. But investors tempered their enthusiasm and shares were flat at 109.82 in recent action.

In January, Amazon said it would lay off 18,000 workers, the largest cutback in its 28-year history. In March, it announced plans to cut another 9,000 jobs.

Heading into the Amazon earnings report, shares in the e-commerce giant were up 25% in 2023. Amazon stock holds a Relative Strength Rating of 43 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock checkup.

Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on 5G wireless, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.

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