Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest Internet retailer, said Wednesday that fourth-quarter profit more than doubled on higher holiday sales of electronics, video games and toys.
The Seattle-based company posted net income of $207 million, or 48 cents a share, up from $98 million, or 23 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest result was in line with estimates. Revenue jumped 42 percent, to $5.67 billion.
Amazon.com said last month that the 2007 holiday season was its “best ever,” helped by sales of DVD players, GPS devices and games for Nintendo Co.’s Wii console.
The company is expanding beyond sales of books and DVDs by adding more product categories and taking market share from eBay Inc. by giving outside sellers a place to hawk their goods.
Internet holiday sales climbed 19 percent from the year-earlier period, research firm ComScore Inc. said, outpacing the 3 percent growth by U.S. retailers in general, according to the National Retail Federation.
Amazon’s International sales growth outpaced U.S. sales in the holiday quarter. U.S. and Canada sales rose 40 percent, to $3.08 billion, while international sales climbed 46 percent, to $2.59 billion.
The report came out after the close of trading.
Other earnings news
Starbucks Corp. said fiscal first-quarter net income rose 1.5 percent, to $208.1 million, or 28 cents a share, from $205 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier. The most recent result matched estimates. The Seattle-based company said sales gained 17 percent, to $2.77 billion.
The report came out after the close of trading.
Merck & Co. reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.63 billion, or 75 cents a share, compared with a year-ago profit of $473.9 million, or 22 cents a share. The maker of allergy and asthma pill Singulair and osteoporosis treatment Fosamax incurred charges totaling $3.4 billion, or $1.55 a share. The bulk was for litigation involving Vioxx, the painkiller it pulled from the market because it increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Revenue edged up 3 percent, $6.24 billion. Sales jumped 20 percent for Singulair, to $1.15 billion, but edged up just 1 percent, to $796 million, for Fosamax, which will lose patent protection Wednesday.
Merck stock lost $1.32, to close at $46.69 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
