Amazon topped Wall Street estimates in the third quarter, posting an 11% rise in revenue compared with the year-ago quarter and diluted earnings per share of $1.43.The earnings figure came in well above the Street expectation of $1.14, while total revenue of $158.9 billion eased past the consensus forecast of $157.3 billion.The company said it expects revenue in the holiday fourth quarter to grow 7% to 11% compared with the same period in 2023, reaching between $181.5 billion and $188.5 billion. Operating income should come in between $16 billion and $20 billion, Amazon said, with Wall Street setting the bar at $17.49 billion.CEO Andy Jassy noted the holiday season got an early kickoff with Prime Deal Days earlier this month. “There’s so much more coming,” he said in the earnings release, “from tens of millions of deals, to our NFL Black Friday game and Election Day coverage with Brian Williams on Prime Video, to over 100 new cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities.”Investors cheered the results, sending Amazon shares up 5% in after-hours trading. Quarterly numbers from the tech giant and Apple (which also reported Thursday) have been hotly anticipated by Wall Street as concerns mount that stock prices in the sector are overextended. Many investors are nervous about aggressive investment in AI technology, with disclosures of higher expenses helping to drag down shares in Meta Platforms and Microsoft during Thursday’s session. Google and YouTube parent Alphabet topped analysts’ expectations with its quarterly report on Tuesday.Prime Video’s advertising push has been a major strategic theme over the past couple of years, with Amazon making aggressive moves to court ad buyers. The streaming giant recently secured NBA rights in a long-term deal kicking off next season and also is dipping a toe into live news with an election night special anchored by Williams.Advertising services, the financial line item including Prime Video ads, grew 19% from a year ago to $14.3 billion.
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