Amazon Stock Surges as 3rd-Quarter Profits Jump 54 Percent

An Amazon employee loads packages onto a truck at an Amazon's DAX7 delivery station in South Gate, Calif., on July 16, 2024. The Canadian Press/AP-Richard Vogel

E-commerce giant Amazon’s third-quarter earnings registered a more than 50 percent increase in profits, pushing up its stock price by more than 6 percent in after-hours trading.

Net sales for the third quarter was $158.9 billion, up by 11 percent from the third quarter of 2023, according to an Oct. 31 statement from the company. North American sales grew by 9 percent. Net profits hit $15.3 billion, up by more than 54 percent from $9.9 billion. All business segments saw revenue growth in the third quarter, including online stores, physical stores, third-party seller services, advertising services, subscription services, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

For the fourth quarter, the company predicts net sales to rise by 7–11 percent, with operating income in the range of $16 billion to $20 billion compared to $13.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Following the earnings report, Amazon shares surged after the closing bell. By the end of regular trading hours on Thursday, the company’s stock price closed at $186.19. In after-hours trading, Amazon’s shares rose to $197.50. Shares of tech companies Intel, Meta, and Microsoft also went up during this period.

Andy Jassy, president and CEO of Amazon, said the company was “excited” about what it has lined up for its customers for the upcoming holiday season.

“We kicked off the holiday season with our biggest-ever Prime Big Deal Days and the launch of an all-new Kindle lineup that is significantly outperforming our expectations,” he said.

“And there’s so much more coming, from tens of millions of deals, to our NFL Black Friday game and Election Day coverage with Brian Williams on Prime Video, to over 100 new cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities that we’ll share at AWS re:Invent the week after Thanksgiving.”

The company has announced plans to hire 250,000 workers across the United States ahead of the holiday season.

Brian T. Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, pointed out during the earnings call that global operating income rose by 56 percent year over year to $17.4 billion—the company’s “highest quarterly operating income ever.”

Amazon’s Legal Troubles

Amazon is currently caught up in multiple complaints related to its business practices.

In September 2023, for example, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), together with 17 states, filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming that Amazon blocks rivals and sellers on its platform from lowering product prices, overcharges sellers, and prevents rival companies from fair competition.

“Amazon’s far-reaching schemes impact hundreds of billions of dollars in retail sales every year, touch hundreds of thousands of products sold by businesses big and small, and affect over a hundred million shoppers,” the FTC said at the time.

In early October this year, a federal judge allowed the antitrust litigation to proceed, denying Amazon’s motion to dismiss some of the claims made in the lawsuit.

The e-commerce retailer had argued it acts in a “procompetitive” manner. The company’s practice of rapidly matching competitor prices was a form of discounting that’s “affirmatively” encouraged by antitrust laws, it claimed. The motion accused the plaintiffs of seeking to punish Amazon for featuring offers that are competitively priced, the company alleged.

The judge rejected Amazon’s arguments, noting it was not proper to consider such statements at this time in the case. The lawsuit is set to go on trial in October 2026. If Amazon is found to have violated laws, the company could be forced to make large-scale changes.

Meanwhile, in June, thousands of Amazon Flex drivers filed claims against the company over contractor classification issues. Launched in 2015, Amazon Flex allows people to use their vehicles to deliver packages for the retailer.

The workers claim that the company classified them as independent contractors rather than employees. As a result, they were not entitled to the financial benefits and protections that regular employees at the company enjoyed.

Amazon has defended the program.

“The Amazon Flex program gives individuals the opportunity to set their own schedule and be their own boss, while earning competitive pay,” a spokesperson from Amazon said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

“We hear from most of the Amazon Flex delivery partners that they love the flexibility of the program, and we’re proud of the work they do on behalf of customers every day.”