Amazon Posts Q3 Profit On Better-Than-Expected Sales Growth

(RTTNews) - Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) announced a profit for the the third quarter, reversing a loss posted in the same period last year. The black ink came as a surprise to analysts, who had expected the company to post another loss.

Sales growth was stronger than expected in the quarter, with the top line expanding by more than 20 percent compared to last year.

The company announced net income for the quarter of $79 million, or $0.17 per share. This reversed a loss posted in last year's third quarter of $437 million, or $0.95 per share.

Analysts had expected the company to lose $0.13 per share in the third quarter.

Net sales for the period rose to $25.4 billion. This was up 23 percent compared to last year's mark of $20.6 billion. Excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange rates, sales would have been up 30 percent from last year.

Looking ahead, the company projected net sales of $33.5 billion and $36.75 billion for the fourth quarter.