Amazon earnings miss estimates as web spending weighs on earnings

Amazon.com Inc., the largest Internet retailer, posted second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates as some consumers curbed online spending and falling European currencies may have eroded overseas sales.

Net income rose to $207 million, or 45 cents a share, from $142 million, or 32 cents a share, a year ago, the Seattle-based company said today in a statement. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected 54 cents, on average. Shares fell in extended trading.

Amazon.com suffered as some consumers, concerned that the economy isn’t rebounding as fast as economists predicted, curtailed online purchases. Now that Amazon.com sells a broad range of products, from diapers to car parts, it’s more a barometer of overall consumer sentiment and benefiting less from the broader shift to Internet purchasing, according to BGC Partners. Amazon.com gets almost half its revenue from outside North America, so falling European currencies also eroded sales.

“As Amazon broadens its inventory and categories, the company increasingly becomes a proxy of consumer spending,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC in New York. “A slowing consumer is likely taper growth across every channel including e- commerce.”

Sales rose to $6.57 billion. Analysts had estimated $6.55 billion.

Amazon.com rose $2.64 to $120.07 at 4 p.m. New York time in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.