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Kindle sales help to fuel profits at Amazon, but forecasts weigh
AMAZON, the online retailer, yesterday reported a 68 per cent rise in net profits for the first quarter of the year to $299m (£194.5m).
Resilient demand for online goods supported by sales of its Kindle e-reader fuelled the sales growth.
However it also forecast lower-than-expected earnings, raising concerns about the online retailer’s future margins. Amazon yesterday estimated operating profit in its second quarter of $220m to $320m on revenue of $6.1bn to $6.7bn.
Analysts, on average, have been expecting an operating profit of $327.8m on revenue of $6.43bn.
“The fact that operating income [outlook] has a much lower range to it is the key driver of the downside here after the close,” said Scott Tilghman, analyst at Hudson Square Research.