Amazon beats Street 1Q forecasts

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) on Thursday reported first-quarter profit of $724 million.

The Seattle-based company said it had profit of $1.48 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.03 per share.

The online retailer posted revenue of $35.71 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $35.39 billion.

For the current quarter ending in July, Amazon said it expects revenue in the range of $35.25 billion to $37.75 billion. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $36.93 billion.

Amazon shares have increased 22 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased nearly 7 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $916.99, an increase of 51 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on AMZN at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AMZN

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Keywords: Amazon, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings