Amazon exceeded expectations, but first quarter outlook disappointed

Amazon reported fourth-quarter results that beat analysts' expectations but disappointed with its outlook for the first quarter of 2025. While revenue and earnings per share were higher than expected, the company expects lower earnings in the first three months of this year. Amazon stock fell more than 3% after the results were announced.

Amazon $AMZN reported revenue of $187.7 billion, beating analysts' estimates of $187.3 billion. Earnings per share came in at $1.86, which was above the predicted $1.50. By comparison, in the same period of the previous year, earnings per share were only $1.00 and revenue was $169.9 billion.

Amazon's Web Services (AWS) division posted sales of $28.7 billion, just below the expected $28.8 billion. However, it fared well compared to competing cloud services from Microsoft and Google - both companies also fell short of market expectations.

Amazon announced that it expects revenue between $151 billion and $155 billion, lower than analysts had predicted ($158…