Amazon does not convince all along the line

reOnline retailer Amazon.com and the internet giant's alphabet holding company, Google, have not convinced with their quarterly figures presented Thursday after the market closed. While both companies reported higher than expected earnings, their sales were slightly lower than badysts' forecasts. The Alphabet stock price fell temporarily 4% after office hours, Amazon lost 6%.

Amazon had a lot of positives to report. The online retailer recorded a record $ 2.9 billion, up from $ 256 million a year ago. The group, once considered a chronic low-income group, has now earned billions of dollars for several consecutive quarters. Earnings per share of $ 5.75 was well above the expected average of $ 3.14. Amazon increased its revenue by 29% to $ 56.6 billion. Analysts expected an average of $ 57.1 billion. Fourth-quarter sales forecasts also disappointed as Amazon anticipated a significant slowdown in sales growth from 10% to 20%. Of course, this has not been proven yet, because Amazon often gives very conservative forecasts.

The improvement in profitability is mainly due to transactions made outside of traditional online trading. For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing division. Amazon offers IT companies the ability to migrate their information technology to the Internet and offers a range of related services. AWS is the market leader, with its main competitors, including Microsoft and Google. The division's sales increased by 46% to $ 6.7 billion and operating income by 77% to $ 2.1 billion.

Advertising also contributes to profitability. It represents the core of the "other business" division, which more than doubled its business figure to $ 2.5 billion. Amazon is now considered in the online advertising industry as a serious competitor to Facebook and Google. The company offers a variety of ad formats on its website, including ads that use keywords such as Google to search for keywords.

Alphabet posted sales growth of 21%, reaching $ 33.7 billion in the third quarter, and badysts expected $ 34 billion. Net income rose 37% to $ 9.2 billion and earnings per share of $ 13.06 were $ 2.64 higher than forecast.