Amazon Q4 earnings: $149 billion revenue tops Wall Street forecast

Amazon’s top-line growth in the last three months of 2022 was better than investors expected, while its bottom line fell short.

The ecommerce kingpin’s fourth-quarter 2022 results handily beat Wall Street sales forecasts. Amazon reported revenue of $149.2 billion, up 9% year over year. Net income of $278 million (or 3 cents per share), compared with $14.3 billion a year earlier, was hurt by higher costs and the decline in the value of Amazon’s investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian. Q4 is Amazon’s biggest quarter historically, which includes the holiday-shopping season.

Amazon’s ad revenue grew 19% in the last quarter of the year, hitting a record $11.6 billion during the period.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced the layoff of 18,000 corporate employees last month, citing the need to cut costs against a backdrop of an “uncertain and difficult” economic outlook. The headcount reduction, which includes layoffs by Amazon last fall, represents about 1.2% of the 1.54 million full- and part-time workers the company reported as of Sept. 30, 2022.

For Q4, Amazon’s operating expenses rose 9.3% to $146.5 billion.

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Analyst consensus estimates were for revenue of $145.42 billion and earnings of 17 cents per share, according to Refinitive Data. The company’s net income fell after it posted a profit of about $12 billion in the year-ago period from its investment in Amazon Rivian.

For Q1, Amazon expects net sales to be between $121 billion and $126 billion, or a 4% to 8% increase over the first quarter of 2022.

“In the short term, we face an uncertain economy, but we remain quite optimistic about the long-term opportunities for Amazon,” Jacey said in a statement. “When you factor in our investments and innovations in other broad consumer experiences (such as streaming entertainment, consumer-first healthcare, broadband satellite connectivity for more communities worldwide), there is even more reason to feel optimistic about what the future holds.”