Amazon edges a bit closer to the black

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Amazon.com met analysts’ expectations for the third quarter, and executives said Tuesday that the world’s largest Internet retailer still expects pro forma operating profitability by the end of the year despite concerns about consumer confidence.

"Achieving profitability for us does not require heroics, just execution," chief financial officer Warren Jenson said.

But Jenson cautioned that fourth-quarter net sales would be flat or rise at most by 10 percent compared to last year. Net sales are now expected to come in between $970 million and $1.07 billion during the company’s most important retail quarter.

Jenson also cautioned that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath have made it difficult to predict the future, and reiterated there are no guarantees the company will see pro forma profits from operations in the fourth quarter.

Pro forma operating figures exclude certain costs such as stock options, restructuring expenses, losses from investments and costs of acquisitions. Amazon.com has not predicted when it will see its first actual net profit.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Amazon.com had a net loss $170 million, or 46 cents a share, compared with a loss of $241 million, or 68 cents a share, in the same period last year.

It reported a pro forma loss, which excludes losses from investments and some others costs, of $58 million, or 16 cents a share, in line with what analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call were expecting. That’s a 35 percent improvement over a pro forma loss of $89 million, or 25 cents a share, a year ago.

The company’s pro forma operating loss — the figure it hopes to bring into the black by the end of the year — was $27 million, compared to a loss of $68 million in the same period last year.

Net sales were $639 million, slightly above last year’s $638 million.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, the company reported a net loss of $572 million, or $1.58 a share, compared with a loss of $866 million, or $2.48 a share, in the same period last year.

Net sales were $2 billion, up from $1.79 billion in 2000.

Shares in Amazon.com rose 78 cents to $9.55 at the close of trading on the Nasdaq stock market Tuesday, before earnings were released. In after-hours trading, shares were down 40 cents to $9.15.