Amazon Grows Sales 39 Percent in Second Quarter

Amazon grew net sales 39% to $52.9 billion in the second quarter of 2018 compared with Q2-2017, or 37% excluding effects of foreign exchange (currency). The numbers reflect all units including its AWS web-hosting business.

It showed a profit (net income) of $2.5 billion in the second quarter compared with $197 million in second quarter of 2017.

Amazon’s North American net sales rose 44% year over year and comprised approximately 61% of total sales. International net sales rose 21% FX-neutral, comprising approximately 28% of total sales. Its smaller AWS unit (approximately 11% of total sales) saw net sales growth of 49%.

Excerpt of press release follows:

Amazon.com, Inc. today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2018.

Operating cash flow increased 22% to $21.8 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $17.8 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2017. Free cash flow increased to $10.4 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $9.6 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2017. Free cash flow less lease principal repayments decreased to $4.1 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $5.4 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2017. Free cash flow less finance lease principal repayments and assets acquired under capital leases decreased to $546 million for the trailing twelve months, compared with $1.4 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2017.

Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totaled 506 million on June 30, 2018, compared with 502 million one year ago.

Net sales increased 39% to $52.9 billion in the second quarter, compared with $38.0 billion in second quarter 2017. Excluding the $760 million favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 37% compared with second quarter 2017.

Operating income increased to $3.0 billion in the second quarter, compared with operating income of $628 million in second quarter 2017.

Net income increased to $2.5 billion in the second quarter, or $5.07 per diluted share, compared with net income of $197 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, in second quarter 2017.

“We want customers to be able to use Alexa wherever they are,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “There are now tens of thousands of developers across more than 150 countries building new devices using the Alexa Voice Service, and the number of Alexa-enabled devices has more than tripled in the past year. Our partners are creating a wide variety of new Alexa-enabled devices and experiences, including soundbars from Polk and Sonos; headphones from Jabra; smart home devices from ecobee and First Alert; Windows 10 PCs from Acer, HP, and Lenovo; and cars from automakers including BMW, Ford, and Toyota.”

Financial Guidance
The following forward-looking statements reflect Amazon.com’s expectations as of July 26, 2018, and are subject to substantial uncertainty. Our results are inherently unpredictable and may be materially affected by many factors, such as fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, changes in global economic conditions and customer spending, world events, the rate of growth of the Internet, online commerce, and cloud services, and the various factors detailed below.

Third Quarter 2018 Guidance
Net sales are expected to be between $54.0 billion and $57.5 billion, or to grow between 23% and 31% compared with third quarter 2017. This guidance anticipates an unfavorable impact of approximately 30 basis points from foreign exchange rates.

Operating income is expected to be between $1.4 billion and $2.4 billion, compared with $347 million in third quarter 2017.

This guidance assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions, investments, restructurings, or legal settlements are concluded.

See below for full press release including highlights for the quarter and financial tables.

SOURCE: Amazon Press Release

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Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.