Amazon has reported its first quarter results for 2023. Against a backdrop of tough economic conditions, the company still managed to increase net sales by 9% to $127.4 billion. In the same quarter a year ago, net sales came in at just $116.4 billion. Also year over year, the firm improved its operating income, net income, operating cash flow, and free cash flow.
The impressive results delivered by Amazon mirror those we’ve seen from Meta, Microsoft and Google. All of these firms have been able to keep earnings in positive territory even after cost cutting that implies layoffs.
“There is a lot to like about how our teams are delivering for customers, especially amid an uncertain economy,” Amazon CEO Andy Jesse said. “Our stores business continues to optimize the cost of providing services across our fulfillment network and accelerate the speed with which we get products into the hands of customers (we expect (We will have our fastest prime delivery speed in 2023). That results in exceptionally strong results for brands. And, as our AWS business navigates this macro environment with more cautious spending companies, we help customers save money. And they prefer to build long-term customer relationships by enabling them to more easily leverage technologies like big language models and generative AI with their unique approach. Inexpensive machine learning chips (“Trainium” and “Inferentia”). , Managed Large Language Models (“Bedrock”), and AI code partner CodeWhisperer. We like the fundamentals we’re seeing in AWS, and believe there’s a lot of growth ahead.”
As part of this earnings report, Amazon provided guidance on where it expects things to go during the second quarter. It expects net sales to be between $127 billion and $133 billion and operating income to be between $2 billion and $5.5 billion, up from $4.8 billion in the quarter and $3.3 billion year-over-year.
On the back of the good report, Amazon’s share price rose 4.61 percent from the market open, ending the trading day at $109.82.
