Amazon (AMZN) stock jumps after smashing past Q4 earnings estimate

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) on Thursday posted 21% increase in the net sales in Q4 to $87.4 billion, driven by the holiday season sales as well as the transition of Prime from two days to one day.  This was above analysts’ projection of $85.96 billion.

Meanwhile, the e-commerce giant posted Q4 profit of $6.47 per share, beating Wall Street view of $4.03 per share by a wide margin. 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said, “Prime membership continues to get better for customers year after year. And customers are responding — more people joined Prime this quarter than ever before, and we now have over 150 million paid Prime members around the world.”

The management expects first-quarter sales to be in the range of $69 billion to $73 billion and operating income between $3 billion and $4.2 billion, which represents a reduction from $4.2 billion reported in the prior year period.

READ: Better-than-expected Q4 results lift Coca-Cola stock

Earlier this week, fellow tech giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported positive results, riding on strong demand for iPhone 11, even as Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) stock suffered due to slow growth.

Amazon shares jumped over 10% immediately following the announcement. Over the last 12 months, AMZN stock has increased 12%. 

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