Amazon shares plunge 8% on results that are not quite up to snuff
‘When you’re trading on 70 times expected earnings, it doesn’t take much to jolt the share price’
San Francisco/Bengaluru — Amazon.com forecast holiday-season sales and profit that missed Wall Street targets on Thursday. It projected revenue growth that would be the slowest in years, sending shares of the world’s largest online retailer down 8% in after-hours trade. Amazon’s third-quarter sales lagged estimates as well. Analysts said international results were disappointing and online competition was increasing. The company blamed accounting changes and cautioned that it was being conservative with its outlook. For years, Amazon has made expensive bets on new technology and programs, like its $13.7bn acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017 to storm the US grocery industry. That has resulted in roller-coaster profits in the past, but revenue has largely grown at a breakneck pace as consumers shifted shopping online and away from brick-and-mortar stores. “Weak revenue growth stuck out like a sore thumb,” said George Salmon, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “And when you’re trading on 70...
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