Amazon reported a profit near $2 billion on Thursday, the largest in its history, as the online retailer drew millions of new customers to its Prime fast-shipping club for the holiday season and as changes to US tax law added to its bottom line.
Shares rose more than 6 percent in extended trading, after previously closing down 4 percent on the Nasdaq.
Seattle-based Amazon is using fast shipping, television shows exclusive to its website and forays into new technology, such as its voice-controlled Alexa devices, to attract high-spending Prime members. Amazon said price cuts at Whole Foods Market, which it acquired for $13.7 billion last year, are helping it win grocery sales, too.
The world’s largest online retailer said net income more than doubled to $1.86 billion, or $3.75 per share in the fourth quarter ended December 31. Its profit received a provisional $789 million boost from the Republican tax bill passed in December. Analysts on average were expecting just $1.85 per share, according to Thomson Reuters.
“This was another blow-out quarter for Amazon,” said GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives. “The retail strength was eye-popping as the company had a banner holiday season and looked to capture roughly 50 percent of all e-commerce holiday season sales.”
As expected, the period running from before the US Thanksgiving holiday through New Years was Amazon’s biggest-ever by revenue. Sales rose 38 percent to $60.5 billion in the quarter, beating estimates.
The company’s fast delivery, like its two-hour Prime Now service, has helped win over holiday shoppers eager to avoid the crowds of big box retailers. Prime saw more than 4 million sign-ups in one week alone last quarter, and revenue from subscription fees grew 49 percent to $3.2 billion, Amazon said.
That figure is expected to rise this quarter in part because the company recently raised the fee for month-to-month Prime plans, affecting some 30 percent of subscribers, according to analysts at Cowen & Co. Some 60 million, or close to half of all US households, are estimated to have Prime subscriptions.
Advertising and other revenue rose 62 percent to $1.74 billion.
Perhaps the surprise star of the past quarter was Amazon’s voice aide Alexa, embedded in the company's Echo speakers and Fire TV players, as well as some cars and house gadgets. Millions of Amazon customers ordered goods by voice with Alexa in the past year, said Brian Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, on a call with reporters.
“Our 2017 projections for Alexa were very optimistic, and we far exceeded them,” added Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and chief executive, in a statement. “We don’t see positive surprises of this magnitude very often – expect us to double down.”
Amazon’s stock has outperformed the S&P 500, rising almost 50 percent since the start of the fourth quarter, compared with the S&P’s 12 percent rise.
Its shares trade at a premium to those of many peers. The stock’s price-to-earnings ratio is nearly 12 times that of cloud computing rival Microsoft, for instance.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is duelling with Microsoft to handle data and computing for large enterprises, saw its profit margin expand from the third quarter.
This was a “sign of platform strength despite increasing competition,” said Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian in a research note.
AWS posted a 45 percent rise in sales to $5.1 billion.
Amazon said it expects operating profit in the current quarter of between $300 million and $1 billion. Analysts were expecting $1.5 billion, according to analytics firm FactSet.
Mr Olsavsky, Amazon’s CFO, told reporters, “We’re still in heavy investment mode.”
The company has become notorious for running on a low profit margin. Yet its big bets on new services and entry into new industries have reaped shareholders rewards over the past decade, including its founder Mr Bezos, now the richest man in the world.
Amazon continues to spend on a wide array of areas. It is expanding its retail footprint outside the United States, particularly in India, and almost doubled its international operating loss to $919 million in the fourth quarter. Amazon’s global headcount is up 66 percent from a year ago at 566,000 full-time employees, thanks to a hiring spree and an influx of workers from Whole Foods Market.
And earlier this week, it announced a partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co and Berkshire Hathaway to determine how to cut health costs for hundreds of thousands of their employees.
The company said it plans to spend more on video content this year as well, with a prequel television series to The Lord of the Rings in the works. Analysts estimate Amazon spent $4.5 billion or more in 2017.
“Revenue and margins vastly exceeded expectations, and cost control was impressive, so that’s what people are focused on,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, adding: “It’s clear that they will spend a lot more in 2018.”
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
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%3Cp%3EChris%20Jordan%20insists%20Sanchit%20Sharma%20will%20make%20an%20impact%20on%20the%20ILT20%2C%20despite%20him%20starting%20the%20campaign%20on%20Gulf%20Giants'%20bench.%3Cbr%3EThe%20young%20UAE%20seamer%20was%20an%20instant%20success%20for%20the%20side%20last%20season%2C%20and%20remained%20part%20of%20the%20XI%20as%20they%20claimed%20the%20title.%3Cbr%3EHe%20has%20yet%20to%20feature%20this%20term%20as%20the%20Giants%20have%20preferred%20Aayan%20Khan%20and%20Usman%20Khan%20as%20their%20two%20UAE%20players%20so%20far.%3Cbr%3EHowever%2C%20England%20quick%20Jordan%20is%20sure%20his%20young%20colleague%20will%20have%20a%20role%20to%20play%20at%20some%20point.%3Cbr%3E%22Me%20and%20Sanchit%20have%20a%20great%20relationship%20from%20last%20season%2C%22%20Jordan%20said.%3Cbr%3E%22Whenever%20I%20am%20working%20with%20more%20inexperienced%20guys%2C%20I%20take%20pleasure%20in%20sharing%20as%20much%20as%20possible.%3Cbr%3E%22I%20know%20what%20it%20was%20like%20when%20I%20was%20younger%20and%20learning%20off%20senior%20players.%3Cbr%3E%22Last%20season%20Sanchit%20kick-started%20our%20season%20in%20Abu%20Dhabi%20with%20a%20brilliant%20man-of-the-match%20performance.%3Cbr%3E%22Coming%20into%20this%20one%2C%20I%20have%20seen%20a%20lot%20of%20improvement.%20The%20focus%20he%20is%20showing%20will%20only%20stand%20him%20in%20good%20stead.%22%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
More on animal trafficking
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
WWE Super ShowDown results
Seth Rollins beat Baron Corbin to retain his WWE Universal title
Finn Balor defeated Andrade to stay WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns
Lars Sullivan won by disqualification against Lucha House Party
Randy Orton beats Triple H
Braun Strowman beats Bobby Lashley
Kofi Kingston wins against Dolph Zigggler to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Mansoor Al Shehail won the 50-man Battle Royal
The Undertaker beat Goldberg
