Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Amazon is set to announce fiscal fourth-quarter earnings after close of regular trading on Thursday. Shares of the e-commerce giant have been bouncing around ever since it briefly held the title of the largest company in the world by market capitalization in October 2018.
SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analysts warn Amazon’s history shows the company “has had limited success in exceeding Street expectations for revenue in 4Q, likely due to the lack of visibility at the time guidance is given, and difficulties in forecasting a high amount of sales volume in such a small window.”
“To be clear, Amazon fares OK with meeting its own expectations, having exceeded the midpoint of its Q4 guidance 67% of the time in the last nine Q4 prints, and four out of the last five,” the analysts said.
According to SunTrust, the fiscal 2009 fourth-quarter was the last time the online retail giant beat revenue estimates of Wall Street analysts. SunTrust analysts expect Amazon to report solid holiday quarter, though they haven’t ruled out a disappointment.
Amazon said late last year that it set a new sales record for the holiday shopping season, which indicates that its fourth quarter financial results could crush analysts’ estimates. The retailer forecasts fourth quarter 2018 revenue of between $66.5 billion to $72.5 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet expect revenue to grow 19% to $71.89 billion. The consensus mark for 4Q2018 adjusted earnings stands at $5.65 per share, based on figures compiled by FactSet.
Wall Street will be keeping a keen eye to see if revenue is on track company wide, as well as in major growth areas like advertising, cloud services, and grocery retailing. Investors will also want to know how the holiday sales will impact the Amazon’s primary e-commerce operations, which still generate the vast majority of its revenue.
Amazon shares were down 2% Tuesday. The stock has rallied 15.5% over the past 12 months, and 6.4% over the last 3 months.
Amazon.com, Inc. Profile
Amazon.com, Inc. engages in the provision of online retail shopping services. It operates through the following segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The North America segment includes retail sales of consumer products and subscriptions through North America-focused websites such as www.amazon.com and www.amazon.ca.
The International segment offers retail sales of consumer products and subscriptions through internationally-focused websites. The Amazon Web Services segment involves in the global sales of compute, storage, database, and AWS service offerings for start-ups, enterprises, government agencies, and academic institutions. The company was founded by Jeffrey P. Bezos in July 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, WA. – CNN Money
