Amazon.com Inc. closed out last year with a big quarter of profit growth that reflected its efforts to cut costs, improve its fulfillment efficiency and make further inroads into the advertising market.
The company on Thursday reported $13.2 billion in operating income for the fourth quarter, up from $2.7 billion a year before. Analysts had been modeling $10.4 billion.
Looking to the first quarter, Amazon
AMZN,
anticipates $8.0 billion to $12.0 billion in operating income, whereas the FactSet consensus was for $9.0 billion.
The stock was up 4% in Thursday’s extended session.
Amazon’s fourth-quarter revenue rose to $170.0 billion from $149.2 billion, while the FactSet consensus had been for $166.0 billion. The company generated $105.5 in North America-segment revenue, up 13% from a year earlier.
“Our approach of democratizing AI is resonating with customers,” Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said in a conference call with reporters late Thursday. However, he did not break out AI-related sales.
He said the company’s new artificial-intelligence assistant for shopping, called Rufus, will improve the customer experience. “If we do it right, and we intend to, it will lead to a better shopping experience,” he said.
Olsavsky noted a “really strong” holiday season aided by aggressive promotions tied to Prime and a wave of last-minute shopping. Sales in home essentials stood out among purchases, he added.
“We will continue to be careful in what we invest in,” Olsavsky said in assessing the company’s cost-savings plans.
“The regionalization of our U.S. fulfillment network led to our fastest-ever delivery speeds for Prime members while also lowering our cost to serve,” Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a release announcing the results.
The Amazon Web Services cloud-computing business logged 13% growth, with revenue coming it at $24.2 billion. That matched the FactSet consensus view.
Growth at AWS improved relative to the 12% rate seen in the third quarter.
Jassy called out “AWS’s continued long-term focus on customers and feature delivery, coupled with new gen-AI capabilities like Bedrock, Q and Trainium.” These features “have resonated with customers and are starting to be reflected in our overall results.”
Advertising services revenue increased 27% to $14.7 billion and came in ahead of the FactSet consensus, which was for $14.2 billion.
Amazon’s net income rose to $10.6 billion, or $1.00 a share, from about $300 million, or 3 cents a share, a year before. The FactSet consensus was for 80 cents in earnings per share.
For the first quarter, Amazon expects $138 billion to $143.5 billion in sales, while analysts were modeling $142.0 billion.
Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney deemed the performance a “beat and constructive bracket quarter,” highlighting total revenue that came in at 2% above the Street.
“This not only reflects the strength of the domestic consumer market but also Amazon’s leading position in the domestic e-commerce sector,” Global X ETFs research analyst Mayuranki De said in an email message.
