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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SeasideHeights who wrote (53122)	4/28/1999 12:01:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

Amazon.com seen posting strong sales, deeper losses By Martin Wolk SEATTLE, April 26 (Reuters) - Internet retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O> is likely to report deepening losses Wednesday but sequential revenue growth from its strong fourth-quarter results, industry analysts say. Amazon.com, which began offering free electronic greeting cards Tuesday as its latest marketing tool, is expected to report a net operating loss of 29 cents a share, compared with a loss of 7 cents a share a year ago, according to First Call. Several analysts said they expect revenues in the $260 million to $270 million range, up from just $87 million a year ago. In January Amazon.com executives said they expected first-quarter revenue to exceed the $253 million reported in the fourth quarter. Lauren Levitan, an analyst at BancBoston Robertson Stephens, suspects the company could exceed that figure significantly despite the typical slowdown most retailers experience after the Christmas shopping season. She noted the retailer already has disclosed it added nearly 2 million new customers in the quarter for a total of 8 million. "The kind of categories that Amazon sells tend to show seasonal patterns," she said. "To show any sequential growth is amazing. Dramatic sequential growth would just show how small the penetration of the market actually is." Ultimately -- perhaps within the next year -- Amazon.com will obey the law of retail gravity, said analyst Steve Weinstein of Pacific Crest Securities. "It's inevitable that at some point ... they're going to see the same kind of seasonality as regular retailers," he said. "Right now they've just been able to grow through it." Amazon.com began as on online bookseller but has expanded to music, videos and gifts and has made no secret of its intention to parlay its early leadership into a position as the Internet's dominant retailer. Last month the Seattle-based company launched an auction feature offering products in hundreds of categories, taking on eBay Inc., which hosted auctions worth more than $500 million in the latest quarter, generating $34 million in commissions. Its latest venture is online greeting cards, which existing providers led by Blue Mountain Arts have turned into one of the most popular commercial offerings on the Internet. Weinstein said the electronic greeting cards should help Amazon.com expand sales at little cost. "What it gives them is a great opportunity to build a database and test suggestive selling," he said. For example, somebody who sends a birthday card could be prompted to buy a book or flowers as a gift. Amazon.com also announced three acquisitions Monday including an online book and music retailer and companies developing technology for Internet browsing and shopping. "The bigger picture here is when you go shopping they want you to think Amazon," said Weinstein.