Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) revealed its earnings report for the first three months of 2013 this afternoon after the market closed. The company recorded earnings per share of $0.18 in the first quarter on revenue of $16.07 billion. On today’s market, the firm’s stock trended up, finishing at a price of $274.70 per share.
In the run up to the announcement, analysts were looking for earnings of 8 cents per share from the online retailer on revenues of $16.2 billion. In the first three months of 2012, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) put up earnings of 28 cents per share on revenue of $13.2 billion. In the hours leading up to the release of the earnings report, whisper numbers suggested the company would beat the estimates of analysts by a small margin.
The philosophy at Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one unpopular with some investors, but it has garnered a lot of support on the market. The firm’s CEO Jeff Bezos says that he doesn’t care about the company’s margins, and by extension its earnings, right now. What he wants to see is mass revenue expansion for the company as it tries to gain a foothold in as many internet businesses as possible.
Indicators for the company heading into the rest of 2013 include the performance of the company’s hardware business, which is viewed as an essential indicator for the firms low cost content businesses, the introduction of an online sales tax in the United States, and how that affects demand, and the performance of new products the company is set to introduce this year.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the gold standard in online retail, and the company seems to have a bright future ahead of it. Investors still seem slightly nervous about the firm’s expansionist strategy, and its refusal to settle into itself, but those objections are a matter of course in a business as innovative as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
So far in 2013, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares have increased by more than 9 percent. Investors are clearly buying the story that the company is selling, despite the massive valuation of the firm’s stock.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) currently trades at a 2012 P/E of infinity, because of the 9 cent loss it made last year, analysts expect the firm to earn $1.67 per share next year, giving it an estimated 2013 P/E of 165.
