Amazon reports sales and profit shortfall in 3Q

NEW YORK (AP) — Online behemoth Amazon reported a shortfall in third quarter profits and sales as the pandemic-induced online splurging eases.

The Seattle-based company reported a profit of $6.2 billion, or $6.12 per share for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 compared with $6.3 billion, or $12.37 per share a share, during the year-ago period. Revenue jumped 15% to $110.8 billion.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet on average expected $111.55 billion in quarterly revenue and per-share earnings of $8.90.

In July, Amazon warned that revenue would be in the range of $106 billion to $112 billion for the third quarter. Still, the quarter marks the fourth consecutive one of revenue topping $100 billion.

Amazon is one of the few retailers that has prospered during the pandemic. As physical stores selling non-essential goods temporarily or permanently closed, people stuck at home turned to Amazon for everything from groceries to cleaning supplies.

But Amazon is seeing a slowdown in sales growth as a result of the company lapping against last year’s huge pandemic-induced shopping binges. The slowdown also reflects that people, particularly in Europe and the U.S., are more mobile and are doing other things besides shopping online.

Amazon’s other businesses expanded, too. Sales at its cloud-computing business, which helps power the online operations of Netflix, McDonald’s and other companies, grew 39% in the quarter. And at its unit that includes its advertising business, where brands pay to get their products to show up first when shoppers search on the site, sales rose 49%.