Amazon Reports Mixed Q1 Earnings, Plans To Spend $4B On Coronavirus-Related Expenses

Amazon.com AMZN reported quarterly earnings of $5.01 per share on Thursday, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $6.25 by 19.84%. This is a 29.34% decrease over earnings of $7.09 per share from the same period last year.

The company reported quarterly sales of $75.5 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $73.610 billion by 2.57%. This is a 26.47% increase over sales of $59.700 billion the same period last year.

Amazon sees second-quarter sales $75-$81 billion.

"From online shopping to AWS to Prime Video and Fire TV, the current crisis is demonstrating the adaptability and durability of Amazon's business as never before, but it's also the hardest time we've ever faced,"  Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO said in a statement.

“Under normal circumstances, in this coming Q2, we'd expect to make some $4 billion or more in operating profit. But these aren't normal circumstances. Instead, we expect to spend the entirety of that $4 billion, and perhaps a bit more, on COVID-related expenses getting products to customers and keeping employees safe."

Amazon shares were trading down 4.2% at $2,368 in the after-hours session. The stock has a 52-week high of $2,461 and a 52-week low of $1,626.03.

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Photo credit: Álvaro Ibáñez, via Wikimedia Commons