Amazon triples profit in Q3, but shares slide

san francisco — Online giant Amazon said on Thursday its profits more than tripled in the third quarter, but shares fell as the rise was weaker than expected.

Amazon extended its string of positive results after years of investments that produced little or no profit, helped by its cloud computing, streaming video and new products and services.

Profit surged to $252 million from $79 million in the same period a year ago, while revenues jumped 29 per cent to $32.7 billion.

Amazon shares tumbled more than five per cent in after-hours trade after profit fell shy of most analysts’ forecasts.

Earnings per share, closely watched by Wall Street, came in at 52 cents; the consensus estimate was 78 cents.

Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos offered a cryptic comment on the financial results, referring to the company’s digital personal assistant Alexa, which responds to queries on its Echo speaker and other devices using artificial intelligence.

“Alexa may be Amazon’s most loved invention yet — literally — with over

jump in revenues to $32.7 billiion

250,000 marriage proposals from customers and counting,” said Bezos.

“And she’s just getting better. Because Alexa’s brain is in the cloud, we can easily and continuously add to her capabilities and make her more useful — wait until you see some of the surprises the team is working on now.”

Neil Saunders of the research firm Conlumino said Amazon “missed its earnings estimates by a wide margin and this will, inevitably overshadow the more positive news on sales.”

This result “undoes some of the recent progress Amazon has made on the profit front,” Saunders said in a note to clients. He said the relatively weak profits resulted from increased costs and investments in new products and services. — AFP