Amazon expects spring windfall as US economy reopens, posts record profits

Shares rose 4 percent in after-hours trade.

Throughout the pandemic, the world’s largest online retailer has been at the center of safety and labor issues.

Its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, this winter became a rallying point for organized labor, hoping staff would form Amazon’s first US union and inspire similar efforts nationwide. Workers ultimately rejected the union bid by a more than 2-to-1 margin, but Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said the saga showed how the company had to do better for employees.

The company meanwhile has been facing litigation in New York over whether it put profit ahead of worker safety in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amazon’s operation has been unfazed by these developments. Net sales rose to USD 108.5 billion in the first quarter ended March 31 from USD 75.5 billion, beating analysts’ average estimate of USD 104.5 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Bezos touted the results of the company’s cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services (AWS) in a press release, saying, ”In just 15 years, AWS has become a USD 54 billion annual sales run rate business competing against the world’s largest technology companies, and its growth is accelerating.”

AWS’s long-time chief Andy Jassy is scheduled to succeed Bezos as Amazon’s CEO this summer. His unit continues to be a bright spot. Just last week, for instance, Dish Network Corp announced a deal to build its 5G network on AWS. The division increased revenue 32 percent to USD 13.5 billion, ahead of estimates of USD 13.2 billion.

Adding to Amazon’s revenue was its growing chain of physical stores, including Whole Foods Market and its first overseas cashier-less convenience shop, opening last month in the London Borough of Ealing. Amazon delved further into healthcare as well with an online doctors-visit service for employers, representing another area it is aiming to disrupt after retail, enterprise technology and Hollywood.

Profit more than tripled to USD 8.1 billion.

Amazon, which saw its stock price nearly double in the first part of 2020 as it benefited from the pandemic, has this year underperformed the S&P 500 market index. Its shares were up about 8.5 percent year to date versus the index’s 13 percent gain.

At the same time, spending on COVID-19 and logistics has chipped away at Amazon’s bottom line. The company has poured money into buying cargo planes and securing new warehouses, aiming to place items closer to customers to speed up delivery. It said Wednesday it planned to hike pay for over half a million employees, costing more than USD 1 billion – and it is still hiring for tens of thousands more positions.

Brian Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, told reporters the company intends to increase spending on video content this year as well. Consumers have been watching content for more hours on Amazon, he said.

While far behind ad sales leaders Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google, Amazon is growing its ad business because brands’ placements often result directly in sales, reaching customers who are on Amazon with an intention to shop.

Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com, said, ”Outside of its core retail and cloud units, advertising revenue is increasingly becoming another substantial growth driver for Amazon.”

Amazon said ad and other sales rose 77 percent to USD 6.9 billion, ahead of analysts’ estimate of USD 6.2 billion.

The company also announced its intention to host its marketing blitz Prime Day in the current quarter. Olsavsky said the reason for this was to attract more customers’ attention and be better for business partners than the company’s more typical July scheduling.