Amazon Doubles Profit

New York Times:

Amazon.com, the leading online retailer, had a lot of good news in its financial report Wednesday, but it was overshadowed by just a small bit of bad news.

The good news was a strong holiday shopping season that was more robust than in years past as hearty demand for books, electronics and consumer goods pushed revenue up 42 percent in its fourth quarter and more than doubled profits. And despite a slowing national economy, Amazon said it expected strong sales growth this year.

The bad news was lower profit margins in the fourth quarter along with a disappointing outlook for those margins.

Shares of Amazon dropped more than 11 percent with the announcement that came after the markets closed. Shares lost as much as $8.96 in after-hours trading. Before the report, shares of Amazon rose 26 cents, to $74.21 as investors anticipated what is typically the company's strongest quarter.

Read the whole story: New York Times