Net sales at Amazon in the first quarter ended March 31 rose 12.5%, to $143.3 billion, and net income more than tripled, to $10.4 billion from $3.2 billion. The results were higher than expected by analysts, which led the company's stock to rise 2%, to about $179 a share, in after-hours trading. For the year, Amazon stock has risen almost 17%.
In the quarter, North America segment sales increased 12%, to $86.3 billion; international sales increased 10%, to $31.9 billion (or up 11% when the effect of the strong dollar is excluded); and sales of Amazon Web Services, which includes AI, increased 17%, to $25 billion.
Observers focused on several major components of Amazon's business. These include AWS, the cloud-computing division that includes Amazon's AI operations, which it is investing in heavily, seeking to catch up to and match AI rivals Microsoft and Meta, among others. In addition, Amazon's retail operations continue to grow, aided by an emphasis on same- or next-day delivery in ever more markets. Advertising, too, has become a major contributor to growth, particularly now that ads run in Prime video streaming.
The New York Times said the results showed Amazon "continued to wring efficiencies out of its retail business and recharge growth in its cloud computing operations."
And the Wall Street Journal noted Amazon's record sales for the period "as the AI boom powered growth in its cloud-computing unit, helping shake off last year's post-pandemic slump."
Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy called the first quarter results "a good start to the year... The combination of companies renewing their infrastructure modernization efforts and the appeal of AWS's AI capabilities is reaccelerating AWS's growth rate (now at a $100 billion annual revenue run rate); our stores business continues to expand selection, provide everyday low prices, and accelerate delivery speed (setting another record on speed for Prime customers in Q1) while lowering our cost to serve; and, our advertising efforts continue to benefit from the growth of our stores and Prime Video businesses."
Amazon predicted that net sales in the second quarter will grow 7%-11%, to between $144 billion and $149 billion.