E-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) reported mixed fourth-quarter earnings and provided weak forward guidance as it continues to adjust its operations coming out of the pandemic.
The Seattle-based company reported that it earned $0.03 U.S. per share for the October through December quarter, which was below Wall Street forecasts.
However, the company did manage to beat expectations on revenue, reporting $149.2 billion U.S. versus $145.42 billion U.S. that was anticipated by analysts, according to Refinitiv data.
Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing unit, earned $21.40 billion U.S. compared to $21.87 billion U.S. that was expected.
Advertising revenue was better than expected at $11.56 billion U.S. versus $11.38 billion U.S. that analysts had expected.
The year 2022 marked the slowest pace of annual growth in Amazon’s history, with revenue for the full year growing only 9% as inflationary pressures and rising interest rates hurt consumer spending on discretionary items.
Amazon is in the process of rightsizing its operations after over building during the pandemic. The company has announced the layoff of 18,000 employees, closed multiple facilities, and canceled several high-profile projects in recent months.
Looking ahead, Amazon said that it expects to post revenue of between $121 billion U.S. and $126 billion U.S. for the current first quarter of 2023, which would represent year-over-year growth of 4% to 8%. Analysts were forecasting sales of $125.1 billion U.S. for Q1.
Amazon’s stock has decreased 19% in the past 12 months to trade at $112.91 U.S. per share
