Amazon Stock News and Forecast: AMZN soars 8% on revenue growth, solid outlook for Q2

Amazon lapped earnings expectations for Q1.
AMZN stock jumped 8.3% on the news.
Most growth came from the North America segment.
Resistance sits in the $120 to $122 range.

Clay Webster FXStreet

Jeff Bezos couldn't be prouder. Amazon (AMZN) stock popped more than 8% late Thursday on the retail/cloud powerhouse's robust first quarter earnings beat. Amazon reported $0.31 a share in GAAP earnings, which beat Wall Street consensus of $0.20. Revenue was likewise strong at $127.4 billion, nearly $3 billion ahead of consensus and almost 10% above the year ago period.

Amazon stock jumped 8.3% afterhours to nearly $119.

Amazon stock news

Most of the growth still came from the North America segment, which rose 11% from last year, while international sales grew a meagre 1%. Forex headwinds, however, had a major effect on the value of international sales.

"Our advertising business continues to deliver robust growth, largely due to our ongoing machine learning investments that help customers see relevant information when they engage with us, which in turn delivers unusually strong results for brands," said CEO Andy Jassy in a statement. "While our AWS business navigates companies spending more cautiously in this macro environment, we continue to prioritize building long-term customer relationships both by helping customers save money and enabling them to more easily leverage technologies like Large Language Models and Generative AI."

Amazon Web Services saw revenue climb 16% YoY to $21.35 billion in the quarter, beating consensus for $21 billion. The company plans to trim their entertainment segment by a mere 100 jobs this quarter.

Amazon netted $3.2 billion in the quarter despite a $500 million loss on its stake in Rivian (RIVN).

For the second quarter, management guided for revenue between $127 billion and $133 billion, which fits in nicely with consensus just above that range's midpoint. They expect operating income between $2 billion and $5.5 billion, above the $3.3 billion reported the year prior.

Amazon stock forecast

AMZN stock has moved up close to the $120 to $122 resistance window that pushed prices down on multiple occasions during October of last year. For now that range is the goal and will likely entail plenty of profit taking. The RSI is close to overbought territory. The 21-day moving avearge, currently near $103, may provide support.

AMZN daily chart

Author

Clay Webster

FXStreet

Clay Webster grew up in the US outside Buffalo, New York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He began investing after college following the 2008 financial crisis.

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