Amazon beats Q1 predictions, share prices jump 14.6%

Online retailer Amazon.com posted their first quarter results yesterday, beating analysts' estimates despite their outlook for growth being slower than expected. Share prices responded well to the news with the stock price jumping 14.6 percent according to Business Week.

Despite not disclosing sales figures for individual devices, the media business which is home to the Kindle Fire tablet jumped 19 percent in the first quarter, indicative of strong demand and popularity with consumers. Amazon kept the exact figures secret, but did disclose that the device was the most popular item on their store.

Net income during the January to March first quarter period of 2012 came to $130 million, or 28 cents per share, far surpassing leading analyst predictions of 6 cents per share. Despite this, it was down on last year's figure for the same period, which saw $201 million or 44 cents per share. Revenue grew 34 percent on last year's figures, totaling $13.18 billion, which again, was higher than analyst estimates widely suggesting Amazon to report $12.91 billion for the three month period.

Amazon predicts their second quarter revenues to grow between 20 and 34 percent during the period, an increase of $11.9 billion and $13.3 billion once the negative impact of foreign trade exchange rates have been factored in. In comparison, analysts predict the popular online retailer will post revenues of $12.8 billion for the second quarter period.

ComScore now places the Kindle Fire's Android market share at 54.4 percent when last checked in February, a dramatic increase from 29.4 percent last December. This makes it the single most popular and largest volume selling Android-based tablet currently on the market. Despite this, Apple's ever-popular iPad remains the clear market leader.

There has been some alarm from Wall Street analysts at the online retailer's continual spending hurting profits, including massive staff recruitments, which has seen staff levels reach 65,600 employees, a huge 73 percent increase on the same period last year. Other purchases such as robotics company Kiva Systems for $775 million, which Amazon will use to make operations more efficient, has drawn concern, as has the continual warehouse and infrastructure expansion, according to the WSJ.