(RTTNews) - Shares of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) surged nearly 20% in extended trading session on Thursday after the online retail giant's fourth-quarter profit surged driven by 9% increase revenues and a hefty gain from investment in Rivian Automotive.
Seattle, Washington-based Amazon's fourth-quarter increased to $14.3 billion or $27.75 per share from $7.2 billion or $14.09 per share last year. Fourth-quarter profit includes a pre-tax valuation gain of $11.8 billion from the company's investment in Rivian Automotive Inc., which completed an initial public offering in November.
On average, 41 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $3.58 per share for the quarter.
Amazon's sales for the quarter increased 9% to $137.4 billion from $125.6 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $137.56 billion for the quarter.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said, "As expected over the holidays, we saw higher costs driven by labor supply shortages and inflationary pressures, and these issues persisted into the first quarter due to Omicron. Despite these short-term challenges, we continue to feel optimistic and excited about the business as we emerge from the pandemic."
Sales from North America gained 9% to $82.36 billion from $75.35 billion last year, while international sales slipped 1% to $37.27 billion from $37.47 billion. Meanwhile, revenues of Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud service division, jumped 40 percent to $17.78 billion from $12.74 billion.
Looking forward to the first quarter, the company expects sales of $112.0 billion to $117.0 billion. Analysts currently estimate revenues of $120.11 billion.
AMZN closed Thursday's trading at $2,776.91, down $235.34 or 7.81%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, gained $510.59 or 18.39%, in the after-hours trading.
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