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Amazon reported strong fourth quarter earnings late Wednesday on strong holiday sales, but issued a conservative forecast sending shares down in after-hours trading.
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"This quarter showed accelerated sales growth and record operating profits," Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said. "In our view, these unusual financial results are driven by one thing: continuously improving the customer experience."
The online retailer reported earrings of $207 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with earnings of $98
million, or 23 cents a share, for the same period the previous year.
Revenue grew 42% to $5.67 billion compared with $3.99 billion the previous year. Analysts had expected revenue of $5.37 billion for the period.
For the first quarter and full 2008 year, the company issued a revenue forecast that was ahead of Wall Street's estimates. The company expects revenue to come in between $3.95 billion and $4.15 billion for the March quarter -- ahead of the $3.92 billion expected by analysts.
For the year, Amazon said revenue is expected to come in between $18.75 billion and $19.75 billion. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $18.2 billion for the year.
However, expectations for operating profits disappointed. The company expects operating income to come in between $785 million and $985 million for the full year. The mid-point of that range - $885 million - is below the $958.4 million in operating income that was expected by analysts for the year.
The shares dropped more than 8% at the close of the regular session, after gaining 26 cents to $74.21 during the day. The stock has already lost nearly 23% of its value since New Year's.
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