Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Amazon Q4 Disappoints Investors

Seattle-based Amazon.com disappointed investors Tuesday after releasing its Q4 results, saying it had net sales of $17.43 billion in the fourth quarter, with net income of $177M. That compares with $416M in net income and Q4 2010 sales of $12.95 billion. Investors, and analysts, appeared to be disappointed by the results, with the firm trading down around 8.6 percent in after hours trading. Amazon said full year 2011 sales increased to $48.08 billion, compared with $34.20 billion in 2010, but net income decreased 45 percent to $631M in 2011, compared with 2010 net income of $1.15 billion. Amazon has been investing heavily in the Kindle Fire, new distribution centers, and other efforts, all of which have hurt its business margins.