Amazon shares leap on strong quarterly report

On Wednesday, Amazon reported second-quarter earnings that more than doubled and easily topped analysts' expectations. It also raised its full-year revenue projections.

The Seattle-based company's shares were up $9.42, 13.4 percent, at $79.96 in morning trading Thursday.

Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said Amazon suspects increased fuel prices may give it a "relative advantage" over other retailers.

"Even just driving 10 miles these days is a few dollars worth of gasoline," he said during a conference call with analysts. "And consumers, we suspect, are beginning to take that into account and try to do trip consolidation. So our free shipping offers and Amazon Prime are clearly of even more value to customers under that set of circumstances."

Sales were strong in several sections of Amazon's massive marketplace, and the company was helped substantially by a $53 million gain from the sale of European DVD rental assets.

For the quarter that ended June 30, Amazon earned $158 million, or 37 cents per share. Amazon earned $78 million, or 19 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

The company's revenue climbed 41 percent to $4.06 billion, including a 35 percent leap in North American sales. The number of total active customer accounts also jumped, rising 18 percent to more than 81 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 26 cents per share on $3.96 billion in revenue in the quarter.

Sales of items such as books, CDs and DVDs rose 31 percent to $2.41 billion in the second quarter, while electronics and other general merchandise sales soared 58 percent to $1.53 billion.