Amazon profit doubles, defying slow economy

Amazon.com Inc. showed that it wasn’t being hurt by economic weakness and high fuel prices, reporting Wednesday that its second-quarter profit more than doubled and surpassed analyst expectations. The Internet retailer also raised full-year revenue projections.

Sales were strong in several sections of Amazon’s massive marketplace.

“Certainly given all the blood on the street, this is definitely a positive earnings,” said analyst Jim Friedland at Cowen & Co.

For the quarter that ended June 30, Amazon earned $158 million, or 37 cents a share, compared with $78 million, or 19 cents, in the same quarter last year. Revenue climbed 41% to $4.1 billion, including a 35% leap in North American sales.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 26 cents a share on nearly $4 billion in revenue in the quarter.

Sales of books, CDs, DVDs and related items rose 31% to $2.4 billion, while sales of electronics and other general merchandise soared 58% to $1.5 billion.

One closely watched measure, the company’s net shipping cost, climbed to $128 million from $75 million a year earlier. But Amazon noted that revenue from shipping -- which includes earnings from its membership-based two-day shipping program, Amazon Prime, and its third-party shipping program, Fulfillment by Amazon -- rose to $186 million from $152 million.

For the third quarter, the Seattle company predicted sales of $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion; analysts had been looking for $4.2 billion.

The company increased its sales forecast for fiscal 2008 to a range of $19.35 billion to $20.1 billion. Analysts were expecting $19.6 billion.

Amazon shares rose $5.87 to $76.41 on the earnings news, which was released during after-hours trading. Earlier, the stock closed up $2.57 at $70.54.