Some of the most prominent technology bigwigs have today showcased their performance metrics over the past three months. Now, Amazon is joining the ranks of Google, Microsoft and other, only to blast them all out of the water with its excellent earnings report. The e-commerce giant surpassed every Wall Street expectation, riding on the back of its continually growing online retail and cloud business.
In the current quarter ended March’17, Amazon has posted revenues of $35.7 billion coupled with an earning of $1.48 per share. The Wall Street was expecting the e-tailer to post an underrated earning of $1.12 per share and revenues of $35.31 billion. However, it has been made clear that the company has more potential to exude growth than deemed fit by analysts. The revenue grew 23 percent on a year-on-year basis, compared with $29.1 billion in first quarter 2016.
The company’s operating cash flow increased 53% to $17.6 billion for the past twelve months, as compared to $11.6 billion for the 12 months until March 31, 2016. The income stood at $724 million, whereas the free cash flow increased to $10.2 billion. Further, it has been reported that the operating income decreased 6% to $1.0 billion in the this quarter, compared to $1.1 billion in the same quarter previous year.
As for Amazon Web Services (AWS), the public cloud computing platform forms a majority of its revenues, also witnessed impressive growth this quarter. It revenues accounted for $3.7 billion in the current quarter, as compared to $2.6 billion for the same quarter in the previous year. This means it witnessed a huge 43 percent growth in this quarter, but it has slowed down due to competition from rivals such as Microsoft’s Azure and Google Cloud. It also saw an increaase due to expanding scope and reach of its Ai-powered voice assistant Alexa’s services.
Instead of boasting about this staggering growth across all divisions in the official statement, Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos took this opportunity to talk about India. There is no doubt the country is currently being considered a fledgling battleground for e-tailers. One can say that the e-commerce market is going through its crests, troughs and is maturing in the process. And Amazon is planning to maintain a presence in the country with its arsenal of services.
Our India team is moving fast and delivering for customers and sellers. The team has increased Prime selection by 75% since launching the program nine months ago, increased fulfillment capacity for sellers by 26% already this year, announced 18 Indian Original TV series, and just last week introduced a Fire TV Stick optimized for Indian customers with integrated voice search in English and Hindi.
He further mentions that India is the company’s one of the most significant markets for the company as it holds immense potential and opportunity for growth. Bezos has already committed to investing $3 billion into the country’s operation last year, but the same would soon increase due to strengthened competition. Flipkart, its arch-nemesis in India, has gulped a massive $1.4 billion funding from global technology bigwigs — Tencent, Microsoft, and eBay.
Continuing to talk about the same, Bezos continues to add,
We’re grateful that customers are responding — Amazon.in is the most visited and the fastest growing marketplace in India. It’s still Day 1 for e-commerce in India, and I assure you that we’ll keep investing in technology and infrastructure while working hard to invent on behalf of our customers and small and medium businesses in India.
Due to the bombastic earnings figures posted by the e-commerce giant, the investors are now even more keen on keeping a closer check on Amazon’s growth. The interest drummed up by the company was self-evident in the climbing share prices, which peaked around 5 percent in after-hours trading. The after-hour share price currently stands at $954, driving its market cap close to $450 billion.
