Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) has reported a 55.39 percent jump in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has earned $749 million, or $1.54 a share in the quarter, compared with $482 million, or $1 a share for the same period last year.
Revenue during the quarter grew 22.36 percent to $43,741 million from $35,747 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 189 basis points over the previous year period to 33.80 percent. Total expenses were 97.13 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 96.90 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 23 basis points in operating margin to 2.87 percent.
Operating income for the quarter was $1,255 million, compared with $1,108 million in the previous year period.
"Our Prime team's customer obsession kept them busy in 2016," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and chief executive officer. "Prime members can now choose from over 50 million items with free two-day shipping - up 73% since 2015. Prime Video is now available in more than 200 countries and territories. Prime Now added 18 new cities, which means millions more members now get one and two hour delivery. New benefits were also added to the list, like Prime Reading, Audible Channels for Prime, Twitch Prime and more. And customers noticed - tens of millions of new paid members joined the program in just this past year."
For the first-quarter 2017, Amazon.com, Inc. forecasts revenue to be in the range of $33,250 million to $35,750 million. The company forecasts operating income to be in the range of $250 million to $900.
Operating cash flow improves significantly
Amazon.com, Inc. has generated cash of $16,443 million from operating activities during the year, up 37.94 percent or $4,523 million, when compared with the last year.
The company has spent $9,876 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $6,450 million in the last year.
The company has spent $2,911 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $3,763 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $19,334 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 21.67 percent or $3,444 million from $15,890 million on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt comes down
Amazon.com, Inc. has recorded a decline in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $7,694 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, down 6.48 percent or $533 million from $8,227 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Total debt was 9.23 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 12.57 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Debt to equity ratio was at 0.40 as on Dec. 31, 2016, down from 0.61 as on Dec. 31, 2015. Interest coverage ratio deteriorated to 9.44 for the quarter from 9.63 for the same period last year.
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