Amazon's shares soar as it posts strong third-quarter earnings

Amazon has announced its third-quarter earnings which surpassed the Wall Street expectations yet again. The e-commerce giant announced that its sales have increased by 34 percent during the third quarter to $43.7 billion. Shares also increased by more than 7 percent during the after-hours trading on Nasdaq.

The company posted significantly better-than-expected earnings, at 52 cents per share, when analysts were forecasting just three cents. Net income was $256 million compared with net income of $252 million in the third quarter of 2016.

Revenue rose 34 percent to $43.47 billion, beating $41.58 billion analysts expected. The company said net sales included $1.3 billion from Whole Foods Market, which Amazon acquired in August.

Excluding Whole Foods Market and the $124 million favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 29 percent compared with third quarter 2016. Revenue for Amazon Web Services (AWS) was $4.57 billion, versus the $4.51 billion expected.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos touted the success of its popular voice-activated device, Alexa. “In the last month alone, we’ve launched five new Alexa-enabled devices, introduced Alexa in India, announced integration with BMW, surpassed 25,000 skills, integrated Alexa with Sonos speakers, taught Alexa to distinguish between two voices and more. Because Alexa’s brain is in the AWS cloud, her new abilities are available to all Echo customers, not just those who buy a new device,” Bezos added.

Operating income decreased 40 percent to $347 million in the third quarter, compared with operating income of $575 million in third quarter 2016. Operating income also includes income of $21 million from Whole Foods Market.

Amazon says its fourth-quarter earnings will be in the range of $56 billion and $60.6 billion, which is comparable to Wall Street estimates.