Amazon Says 4th-Quarter Sales Up 40%
Amazon.com Inc. said Monday that sales for the crucial fourth quarter would top $960 million, up 40% from the year-ago quarter, results analysts praised as solid given lackluster holiday sales overall.
The company, in a pre-announcement of its results expected Jan. 30, also said its operating loss will narrow from the 1999 fourth quarter.
Sales got a boost as consumers bought more electronics, toys and other products the company has been adding to its core book and music offerings, Amazon said.
Amazon also said that its customer base grew 16% from the year-ago quarter to about 29 million, and the average size of an order jumped 25% to $58.
The sales figure was at the low end of forecasts for the Seattle-based company, which is seen as a bellwether for the beleaguered Internet retail industry.
The news initially sent Amazon shares sharply higher in after-hours trading, with the stock gaining 13% to more than $17 before falling back to about $15.19. That was up slightly from its close of $14.84, up 38 cents, on Nasdaq.
“I thought the news was good news for the company, especially given the retail environment disasters we’ve seen this past season,” said Kristine Koerber, an analyst with WR Hambrecht & Co. who had forecast revenue of $985 million.
Amazon did not reveal its net loss, but said that its pro forma operating loss was less than 7% of net sales, compared with 26% in the fourth quarter of 1999.
The company is forecast to lose 26 cents a share, according to consensus analyst estimates compiled by First Call/Thomson Financial. It lost 55 cents in the year-ago period.
Amazon’s inventory balance--long a target of criticism by analysts who say it has little experience stocking the right mix of goods--was less than $175 million at the end of the year, a 20% drop from the year before, the company said.
Addressing concerns from the past year that the company would face a serious cash crunch in the coming months, Amazon said it started 2001 with about $1.1 billion in cash and marketable securities, up from $900 million at the end of the third quarter last year.
