Originally published April 23, 2009 at 1:53 PM | Page modified April 24, 2009 at 8:56 AM

Amazon results beat expectations

Internet retailer Amazon.com surprised Wall Street today with a 24 percent increase in its first-quarter profit and a better-than-expected...

By Amy Martinez

Seattle Times business reporter

Internet retailer Amazon.com surprised Wall Street today with a 24 percent increase in its first-quarter profit and a better-than-expected sales increase.

For the first quarter ended March 31, Amazon made a profit of $177 million, or 41 cents a share, up from $143 million, or 34 cents a share, a year ago. Sales increased 18 percent to $4.89 billion.

Those results easily beat analysts' consensus prediction for a per-share profit of 31 cents on sales of $4.75 billion.

The Seattle-based company released its results after the end of regular stock-market trading. Shares of its stock ended the session up $1.41 at $80.61.

The stock fell as much as 4 percent in after-hours trading as Amazon predicted sales for the second-quarter that fell below Wall Street's expectations. But shares soon rebounded and were trading at or above $81.

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com

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