Boosted by what it called its busiest holiday season ever, Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday reported sharply higher fourth-quarter profits and said it had posted its first annual profit since the company was founded in 1994.
The Seattle-based Internet retailing giant said net income was $73.2 million, or 17 cents a share, up from $2.7 million, or 1 cent a share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding items, Amazon earned 29 cents a share, matching Wall Street estimates, according to Reuters Research. Sales surged 36 percent, to $1.95 billion.
For the full year, Amazon posted net income of $35.3 million or 8 cents a share, on revenue of $5.26 billion. In 2002, it had a loss of $149.1 million, or 39 cents a share, on revenue of $3.93 billion.
Amazon said it expects sales of between $1.39 billion and $1.49 billion in the current quarter, an increase of 28 percent to 38 percent over the year-ago period.
The report came out after the close of trading.
In other earnings news:
– Caterpillar Inc. reported that fourth-quarter earnings rose 14 percent on improved equipment and engine sales, signaling the economic recovery may be restoring big-ticket purchases.
The Peoria-based company said net income was $349 million, or 97 cents a share, compared with $305 million, or 88 cents a share, for the year-ago period. The last result beat Wall Street estimates by 3 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. Revenue surged 20 percent, to $6.5 billion.
Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of earthmoving equipment, has benefited from declines in the value of the U.S. dollar and the rebuilding of Iraq, said James Owens, who will succeed Glen Barton as chief executive officer on Sunday.
“Contractors from around the world have moved Caterpillar equipment into the country,” Owens told Bloomberg News.
The dollar has lost about 16 percent of its value against the euro in the past year, making American-made goods less expensive to buyers in other countries.
Caterpillar stock sank $3.01, to $82, on the New York Stock Exchange.
– SBC Communications Inc. said fourth-quarter earnings dropped 62 percent amid shrinking sales of telephone access lines and one-time charges.
The San Antonio-based company said net income fell to $905 million, or 27 cents a share, from $2.4 billion, or 71 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding several one-time items, SBC would have made 34 cents a share, in line with Wall Street estimates.
Revenue fell nearly 10 percent, to $10.1 billion, as an 11.3 percent drop in telephone sales was only partially offset by growth in long-distance, high-speed Internet services and corporate-data sales.
Shares of SBC shed 74 cents, to $25.95, on the NYSE.
– Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. said its fourth-quarter net loss widened to $89 million, or 37 cents a share, from $12 million, or 6 cents a share, in the year-ago period. It was its fifth straight quarterly loss.
The latest quarter included a pretax restructuring charge of $107 million, or 27 cents a share, and a pretax charge of $12 million, or 3 cents a share, for foreign currency translations.
Excluding charges, Chicago-based Smurfit-Stone lost 7 cents a share. On that basis, analysts had forecast a loss of 8 cents a share, according to First Call. Sales edged down to $1.91 billion from $1.92 billion.
Shares of Smurfit-Stone lost 67 cents, to $17.33, on the Nasdaq stock market.
