E-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported Q4 earnings in line with Wall Street expectations, with revenue of $187.8 billion, up 10.5% year on year. However, Amazon’s revenue guidance for Q1 CY2025 came in below analysts’ expectations at $153.3 billion, reflecting a 3.4% shortfall. The company’s GAAP profit of $1.86 per share exceeded analysts’ consensus estimates by 25.4%.
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Key Earnings Highlights
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Revenue: $187.8 billion, in line with $187.4 billion analyst estimates.
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Operating Profit (GAAP): $21.2 billion, beating $19.01 billion analyst expectations by 11.5%.
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EPS (GAAP): $1.86, surpassing $1.48 estimates by 25.4%.
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Revenue Guidance for Q1 CY2025: $153.3 billion (midpoint), below $158.6 billion analyst estimates.
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North America Revenue: $115.6 billion, beating $114.3 billion estimates by 1.1%.
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AWS Revenue: $28.79 billion, missing $28.84 billion estimates slightly.
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North America Operating Profit: $9.26 billion, 21% above $7.65 billion estimates.
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AWS Operating Profit: $10.63 billion, up 4.4% from $10.19 billion estimates.
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Operating Margin: 11.3%, up from 7.8% in the same quarter last year.
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Free Cash Flow Margin: 9.5%, down from 17.1% in the same quarter last year.
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Market Capitalization: $2.48 trillion.
Management’s Comments
“The holiday shopping season was the most successful yet for Amazon and we appreciate the support of our customers, selling partners, and employees who helped make it so,” said Andy Jassy, President and CEO, Amazon.
The Focus on Profitable Growth
不同于其他大型科技公司,Amazon的焦点在于盈利性增长而非单纯营收扩张。这得益于其一贯的再投资策略以及其电子商务业务固有的较低利润率——后者需要持有大量实体库存。
Amazon能否利用过去二十余年的物流投资,通过自动化提升运营效率,并加大广告力度来实现更高的盈利能力?如果真的做到这一点,其北美业务——包含消费者面向的业务板块——有望在未来几年内实现两位数的运营利润率(目前为10.8%)。
一个大幅增值的北美部门结合更为快速增长且利润率相对较高的Amazon Web Services(AWS)业务,可以带来数量级更庞大的盈利潜力。而更高的盈利通常会带来更上涨的股价。
Competitive Landscape
尽管Amazon在规模和地位上占据优势,但其并不孤立运营。沃尔玛(NYSE:WMT)和塔吉特(NYSE:TGT)凭借不断改进的全渠道布局,正在挑战其电子商务和Whole Foods业务。而在云服务领域,尽管拥有先发优势,但Google(Alphabet)(NASDAQ:GOOGL)和微软(NASDAQ:MSFT)都在努力缩小差距。
