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HenryTo
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 Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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Morningstar on AMZN's 1Q earnings.
| Quote: | | Following a fourth quarter that failed to live up to expectations, Amazon AMZN gave the market just what it wanted in the first quarter, with continued top-line momentum and a sharp improvement in North American segment operating margins. Consolidated revenue grew 34% to $13.2 billion, surpassing consensus expectations of $12.9 billion and our own forecast of $13.0 billion and doubling comScore's 17% estimate for e-commerce industry growth for the quarter. The real story from the quarter was North American segment operating margins of 4.7%, a 180-basis-point jump on a sequential basis, which came even as the company continued to make meaningful fulfillment, technology, and content investments. This improvement lends credence to our view that Amazon can add margin expansion to its already impressive growth story in the years to come. International infrastructure investments and economic headwinds from Europe dragged down overall operating margins (1.5% on a GAAP basis, 3.0% excluding stock-based compensation and the amortization of intangibles), while earnings per share of $0.28 easily beat consensus of $0.07 and our forecast of $0.12, though it should be noted that equity method investment activity was responsible for $0.19 of the EPS contribution. We plan to adjust our model based on the first-quarter results, though the impact to our full-year estimates will be relatively minor based on second-quarter guidance that was generally in line with our model expectations. We don't anticipate adding more than a few dollars to our $225 fair value estimate. For 2012, we still forecast top-line growth around 30% (putting full-year revenue around $62 billion) and operating margins around 1.3% (2.8% excluding stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles). Our medium-term valuation assumptions remain largely intact, including average annual revenue growth of 20% over the next five years and full-year operating margins reaching about 4% by 2015. Though we still consider Amazon one of our favorite long-term investment ideas in the consumer space due to a wide economic moat based on several structural cost advantages, we would wait for a pullback before considering an investment, following the stock's sharp upward movement Friday morning. |
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rffrydr
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:10 am Post subject: |
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Amazon ambition
| Quote: | It didn’t get worse, and that was more than enough. Amazon’s revenue growth has been decelerating for two quarters and margins had been ticking downward, on and off, for longer than that. But in the first quarter, reported on Thursday evening, sales grew by the same rate as in the fourth quarter, gross margins stepped up nicely and operating margins held on at about 1.5 per cent – razor thin, but postive. The stock leapt as much as 15 per cent in after-hours trading.
Amazon’s balance sheet and cash flow statement were a bit less encouraging. Trailing 12-month free cash flow was the lowest in at least three years. Cash return on invested capital was 12 percentage points lower than a year ago. Amazon is still pressing the investment pedal as hard as it can and the toll on returns is escalating.
Bulls will not care. They are prepared to wait and see what returns look like when Amazon has taken over the world – and perhaps some neighbouring planets as well. Amazon’s bizarre valuation, at 180 times trailing earnings, tells you nothing. This company is not even trying to be profitable.
What, then, might Amazon look like when it has ascended? Well, consider how it would be doing if it had the margins of the currently ascendant retailer, Walmart. Slap Walmart’s 6 per cent operating margins on Amazon’s sales over the last year, keeping all else equal, and its earnings per share nearly quadruples and its p/e ratio drops to…a still outrageous 48 times.
Unfair, shout the partisans. Amazon’s peak margins should be much higher than Walmart’s – it will never have to pay for all those stores. And its web services business will earn an even stronger margin (it is taking over the galaxy, too).
It is only fitting that Amazon’s shareholders should be as ambitious as its managers. |
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rffrydr
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HenryTo
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rffrydr
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| Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:18 am Post subject: |
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No "facetime" might just be a "feature."
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HenryTo
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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Kindle Fire ships a day early. I just ordered one over the weekend.
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Amazon ships Fire early as competition heats up
(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc began shipping its Kindle Fire on Monday, a day earlier than it expected and extending its lead time over Barnes & Noble Inc's rival Nook tablet.
Amazon's $199 7-inch entree into the tablet computer arena, which may give Apple Inc's costlier iPad some competition but competes most directly with the new Nook, ships a day before the latest Kindle Touch e-reader devices.
Barnes & Noble's $249 Nook tablet hits shelves later this week and, like the Fire, is expected to be a hot item over the holiday season. Amazon may sell 3 million to 5 million Fire tablets this quarter, analysts estimate.
The price-tags on both devices are expected to pressure profit margins in the short term but analysts say the gadgets are intended to make money on apps and other multimedia content from electronic books to videos.
Amazon said in a statement on Monday that the Fire tablet is the best-selling item on Amazon.com and added that it was increasing production.
"Based on customer response we're building millions more than we'd planned," Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle, said in the statement. |
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rffrydr
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:26 pm Post subject: |
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Being late the music game may just be what the doctor ordered for Amazon. The 30% tariff for use of Apple's app (the website backdoor no longer withstanding) made them commit to hardware. This IS Job's vision, in its grandest sense, that the system IS the product...unity out of dichotomy.
They already had their feet wet with the e-reader, and though the hardware might be at a loss, the system is a win/win. And now they've got a development platform. Price will be their loss leader. There's a Depression on and the iPad is like a german car you can only buy optioned up.
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HenryTo
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HenryTo
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HenryTo
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Posts: 11707
Location: Los Angeles, California
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HenryTo
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Posts: 11707
Location: Los Angeles, California
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HenryTo
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HenryTo
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 12:07 pm Post subject: |
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Price of $199 very intriguing--this may break into a market different to that of APPL.
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Amazon Unveils Tablet That Undercuts iPad’s Price
JENNA WORTHAM, On Wednesday September 28, 2011, 11:27 am EDT
Seeking to stake a claim in the tablet computer market alongside Apple and Samsung, Amazon.com on Wednesday revealed plans to begin selling a color touchscreen tablet.
Named the Kindle Fire, the device has a 7-inch touchscreen, weighs 14.6 ounces and is outfitted with a dual-core processor. But the most important feature may be the price. At $199 the Fire is less than half the price of the Apple iPad, which starts at $499. It is the first tablet from a major company to seriously undercut the iPad in price.
Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, who showed off the Fire on stage at a news conference in Manhattan, said it was meant to build on the popularity of the company’s e-readers and appeal to a broader audience that also wants to browse the Web and stream music, movies and video. The device has access to Amazon’s library of 18 million e-books, songs and movies and television shows, and can run Android applications that have been approved by Amazon.
There is also a newsstand for users who want to subscribe to magazines, with titles like Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, Wired and Glamour.
“We’re building premium products at non-premium prices,” said Mr. Bezos. “We are determined to do that.”
Mr. Bezos also introduced a speedy custom-built mobile browser, called Amazon Silk, which he said was “cloud-accelerated,” combining Amazon’s computing cloud with the Kindle Fire device. “It’s truly a technical achievement,” he said.
Amazon plans to begin taking preorders for the Fire on its Web site immediately, and they will start shipping Nov. 15. Mr. Bezos said the company was “making many millions of these.”
The Kindle Fire includes a free cloud-based storage system, meaning that no syncing with cables is necessary. Mr. Bezos seemed to take a swipe at Apple, saying, “That model that you are responsible for backing up your own content is a broken model.”
This first model of the Fire sends and receives data only over Wi-Fi, not cellular networks. Like the iPad’s screen, the screen on the Fire has so-called in-plane switching technology, meaning that unlike some LCD screens it can be viewed from a variety of angles, not just straight on.
Mr. Bezos also introduced several new e-readers, including the Kindle Touch, a lightweight version of its current Kindle models, with the addition of infrared touch features to the black-and-white display. The Touch, which costs $99, has no buttons, and users navigate by tapping the sides of the screen. The device is available for preorder beginning Wednesday and will start shipping Nov. 21. Mr. Bezos showed off a version of the Kindle Touch with 3G wireless connectivity, for $149.
In addition, Mr. Bezos showed off a new, non-touchscreen Kindle that he said was 18 percent lighter than the Kindle 3, includes a faster processor and will sell for $79. It will begin shipping immediately, he said.
“We have many customers who tell us they don’t want touch,“ Mr. Bezos said. “We’re going to sell many millions of these.”
The Kindle Fire has its work cut out for it. Apple has secured a strong lead in tablets, selling more than 29 million iPads in the product’s first 15 months on the market. Its competitors have been less successful. For example, Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry line of smartphones, said it only shipped 200,000 of its own rival to the iPad, the PlayBook, in three months.
Amazon will also be competing with the Nook, Barnes & Noble’s popular color e-reader. Many expect the Nook to get an upgrade later this year.
However, Amazon has an ace up its sleeve that other tablet makers do not, in that the Kindle Fire will offer Amazon’s full spread of digital content, said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Gartner who follows the consumer electronics industry.
“Amazon has already nailed the hardest part of the equation: the content,” he said.
Early sales estimates for the Kindle Fire reach as high as five million.
“The tablet market right now is easily defined as Apple and everyone else,” said Mr. Gartenberg. “There is certainly room for another player, and a well-executed device from Amazon could do well.” |
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rffrydr
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 7:36 am Post subject: |
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...."Amazon is looking to recruit major app developer's for Fire's release. " wa-wahn-wa.
Ranked #2 "Selling on Strength" today.
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HenryTo
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