AMZN - run into the close. I was away, but glad I didn't have to witness.
So if they make a buck a share at the peak of economy, you're paying $100?
No surprise it's down AH
90.48 and falling
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Amazon.com quarterly profit surges
Tuesday October 23, 4:11 pm ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Online retailer Amazon.com (NasdaqGS:AMZN - News) posted a sharp rise in third-quarter net profit on Tuesday, helped by robust domestic and international sales and the latest Harry Potter book.
Results were released as the company's share price closed above the $100 mark, the first time it has done so since 2000.
The world's largest Internet retailer, which has delighted investors with impressive results in its first two quarters of the fiscal year, said quarterly net income more than quadrupled to $80 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with $19 million, or 5 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 41 percent to $3.26 billion.
Seattle-based Amazon, the second-most-popular e-commerce site behind auctioneer eBay Inc (NasdaqGS:EBAY - News), has pared back the rate of its spending this fiscal year, a move that has helped improve profit margins and boost earnings growth while pushing up the company's share price 136 percent since January 3, the first trading day of this fiscal year.
But despite its improved performance, many analysts call Amazon fully-valued -- its price-earnings ratio is substantially higher than Internet companies and retail rivals. Shares of Amazon trade at 59 times projected forward-looking earnings, compared with eBay at 22 times, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT - News) at 13 times estimated 2008 earnings. |
