Amazon.com (AMZN) is one of the world's largest retailers but it is also involved in a range of other businesses such as cloud storage, movies, and video streaming.
For years, one of the knocks against Amazon is that the company generated huge sales but little profit. That may be starting to change.
For the full year, net income was $2.4 billion ($4.90 per share) compared with $596 million ($1.25 per share) in 2015. On a per share basis, that's up 292%, a very impressive gain.
For the full year, sales increased 27% to $136 billion, compared with $107 billion in 2015. Excluding the $550 million unfavorable impact from foreign exchange rates, sales were up 28%.
Interestingly, the sale numbers were below analysts' estimates, even though profits were higher. That's an indication that the company's margins are improving.
Looking ahead, the company forecast net sales of between $33.25 billion and $35.75 billion in for the first quarter of 2017. That would represent growth of between 14% and 23% compared with the same period of 2016. The stock remains a Buy for investors who understand the high cost and the risks involved.
