Amazon Q1 earnings are out: here's what CEO Jassy said in press release

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) is trading up in extended hours on Tuesday after reporting better-than-expected financial results for its first quarter.

AWS topped expectations again

The stock is being rewarded also because Amazon Web Services (AWS) remained strong in Q1, as per the earnings report.

The cloud-computing platform brought in $25 billion in revenue (up 17% year-over-year). Analysts, in comparison, were at $24.5 billion. Andy Jassy – the chief executive of Amazon said in a press release today:

The multinational also saw its advertising revenue pop a more-than-expected 24% in the first quarter. Amazon stock is now up roughly 25% versus its year-to-date low.

Amazon Q1 earnings snapshot

• Earned $10.4 billion versus the year-ago $3.2 billion
• Per-share earnings also climbed from 31 to 98 cents
• Revenue jumped 13% year-on-year to $143.3 billion
• Consensus was 83 cents a share on $142.5 billion in revenue
• Operating income more than tripled to $15.3 billion

Amazon now forecasts its sales to fall between $144 billion and $149 billion in its current quarter. Analysts were at $150 billion instead. Still, CEO Jassy said on Tuesday: