SEATTLE – Internet retailer Amazon.com handily beat analysts’ expectations on its first-quarter earnings, reporting record sales for a nonholiday season that it credited to low prices and expanded selection.
Amazon on Thursday reported net income of $111 million, or 26 cents per diluted share, for the quarter ended March 31. Excluding certain costs, the company earned 23 cents a share.
On that pro forma basis, analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call predicted earnings ranging from 16 cents to 23 cents, with an average of 19 cents.
Amazon lost $10.1 million, or 3 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. On a pro-forma basis, it earned 10 cents a share.
Net sales for the quarter were $1.53 billion, compared with $1.08 billion for first quarter 2003, when Amazon was still struggling to make its first profit outside a holiday season.
“Their revenues were strong overall. Their operating margins were up quite considerably,” said Dan Geiman, an analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle. “Gross margins, I wish they were a little bit stronger, but they did beat expectations in terms of sales, which is positive, and in terms of earnings per share.”
Chief financial officer Tom Szkutak attributed the strong sales to lowered prices, expanded selection and the company’s continued offer of free shipping on orders of more than $25 in the United States.
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