On Thursday, Amazon.com Inc said it expects revenue to rise in the third quarter as the retailer charges more from Prime subscriptions and consumer demand remains high despite rising inflation.
Shares of the world’s largest online retailer rose 13% in after-hours trading, adding more than $150 billion to its market value.
Like much of retail, Amazon is facing a reckoning. Chief rival Walmart Inc said that this year’s revenue would be much lower than expected. The US consumer confidence fell recently, with some sticking to low-priced staples to cope with the economic woes.
The online retailer expects net sales of between $125 billion and $130 billion for the summer period, compared with analysts’ expectations of just $126.42 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
In a press release, CEO Andy Jassy said the company “sees accelerated revenue growth as we continue to provide members with better Prime service, both by investing in faster shipping and adding unique benefits like Grubhub’s free one-year shipping.”
Amazon has more items in stock than it did in early 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic began, a positive sign for its operations, CFO Brian Olsavsky told reporters on a conference call.
The release said that Amazon has roughly doubled the number of items it can deliver within a day of purchase, making progress on its long-term commitment. Its July marketing event, Prime Day, was its biggest-ever unit sales.
“It looks like Amazon is finally ready to turn the corner after a tough few quarters,” Insider Intelligence analyst Andrew Lipsman said.