Investing.com -- Amazon.com stock fell sharply after-hours Thursday after the Internet giant reported softer revenue guidance for the current quarter, offsetting fourth-quarter results that beat analysts' forecasts as the tech giant's cloud growth met expectations and growth in North America improved.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell more than 5% in after-hours trading following the report.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, Amazon.com announced earnings per share of $1.86 on revenue of $187.8 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $1.47 on revenue of $187.33 billion.
“The holiday shopping season was the most successful yet for Amazon and we appreciate the support of our customers, selling partners, and employees who helped make it so,” said Andy Jassy, President and CEO, Amazon.
Amazon's North American business, which drives the bulk of growth, saw revenue climb 10% to $115.6B year-over-year in Q4 and margins jumped 8%, which some on Wall Street flagged as big reason for the bull case on the company.
Amazon had 8% EBIT margins in its North America segment, up from 5.9% in the prior quarter, which RBC said is a "continued proof point on the bull case and how global retail business can ramp with the help of higher margin 3p [third-party] services and advertising."
Amazon Web Services, its fast-growing cloud revenue segment, grew 19% to $28.8 billion in-line with analyst expectations.
For Q1, sales are expected to be $151 to $155.5 billion, missing estimates of $158.33B. The softer guidance comes as the company wrestles with a stronger dollar, forecasting a $2.1 billion drag on revenue.
(Yasin Ebrahim contributed to this report)