Company Update: Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Amazon shares plunge as record profit still misses estimates

[Reuters] – “By comparative retail standards, Amazon’s level of profitability is still painfully weak,” said Neil Saunders, head of retail analyst firm Conlumino, who is still positive on Amazon’s prospects. Amazon’s net profit for the fourth quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season, rose to $482 million (335 million pounds), or $1.00 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $214 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier. Amazon notched its third consecutive profitable quarter for the first time since 2012, but it still left Wall Street wanting more. Read more on this. Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) , with a current value of $297.83B, started trading this morning at $609.86. Today, shares have traded between $597.55 and $638.06 per share with a one year range of $299.33 to $696.44. Priced at 317.04x this year’s forecasted earnings, AMZN shares are relatively expensive compared to the industry ’s 7.78x forward p/e ratio. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 37 sell-side analysts are looking at $1.56 per share, which would be $1.11 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.04 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $1.84, which would be a $2.36 better than last year. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $35.93 Billion. If reported, that would be a 22.50% increase over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Susquehanna Initiated AMZN at Positive (Jan 15, 2016). Previously, Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded AMZN from Buy to Neutral. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $748.67, which is 22.76% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:AMZN) Similar Articles: Market Update: Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Tech Earnings: Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc Go Bonkers Company Update: Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Amazon is quietly testing a plan to take on GrubHub Company Update: Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Amazon just soared past Apple in the streaming TV market