Shares of Amazon (AMZN) are down 13% after the e-commerce giant issued weak forward
guidance for the current fourth quarter, including expectations for soft holiday sales this year.
For this year’s third quarter, Amazon earned $0.28 U.S. per share. The company’s revenue
came in at $127.10 billion U.S. versus $127.46 billion U.S. that was forecast by analysts,
according to Refinitiv data.
Amazon said it expects to post fourth-quarter revenue between $140 billion U.S. and $148
billion U.S., representing year-over-year growth of 2% to 8%. Analysts were expecting Q4 sales
to come in at $155.15 billion U.S.
Revenue grew 15% in the third quarter, marking a return to double-digit sales expansion, but it
still fell short of Wall Street forecasts.
Amazon has struggled this year with inflation and rising interest rates, as well as a slowdown in
its core e-commerce business as consumers return to shopping in stores.
Amazon has responded by aggressively cutting costs. The company has reduced its warehouse
space, closed its telehealth service, and frozen hiring.
The company said the economic environment in Europe worsened in the third quarter because
of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Amazon also threw cold water on this year’s holiday shopping season despite holding a Prime
sales event earlier in October.
Operating income at Amazon during Q3 fell by almost half from a year earlier to $2.53 billion
U.S. from $4.85 billion in 2021. Amazon Web Services accounted for all the company’s profit in
the quarter, as the cloud unit generated operating income of $5.4 billion U.S.
Prior to today, Amazon’s stock was down 35% at $110.96 U.S. per share.
Related Stories
