Amazon Earnings Preview: Analysts See Solid QuarterONLINE RETAIL, AMAZON, E-RETAIL, E-TAIL, AMAZON.COM, INTERNET RETAILBy APThe Associated Press| 30 Jan 2008 | 02:29 PM ET Amazon.com reports earnings for the fourth quarter after markets close Wednesday. Analyst Take: Piper Jaffray analyst Aaron M. Kessler said in a recent client note that he expects a "solid" fourth quarter for Amazon, with earnings of 51 cents per share on $5.39 billion in revenue. "We expect strength driven by increased market share gains by Amazon as well as positive foreign exchange impact," he wrote. However, Kessler, who rates the shares "Neutral" with a $98 price target, said the stock's valuation remains high. He also said that Amazon may offer conservative guidance. In a recent note to investors, Citi Investment Research analyst Mark S. Mahaney predicted Amazon will report fourth-quarter earnings of 51 cents per share on $5.39 billion in revenue. Mahaney said that with broader economic signs that consumer demand is weakening, he could see Amazon issuing 2008 guidance that is more conservative than usual. The analyst rates Amazon shares "Buy" with a $119 price target. By The Numbers: Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, expect earnings of 48 cents per share on revenue of $5.38 billion. In October, Amazon predicted fourth-quarter revenue between $5.1 billion and $5.45 billion. Overview: During the quarter, the Seattle-based online retailer released its portable, wireless electronic reader, Kindle, and experienced another holiday shopping season. In November, Amazon began selling its new portable, wireless electronic reader Kindle through its Web site for $399. The device uses Sprint Nextel's EV-DO data network to access digital content such as books, magazines and newspapers. Also that month, Amazon said it will share revenue with AOL from AOL's use of Amazon's technology for selling movies and TV shows online. Amazon runs the video downloading service Unbox. AOL, which is owned by Time Warner, had been offering videos through its own pay-for-download service since last October. In December, Amazon said the 2007 holiday shopping season was its best to date. The company said its busiest day was Dec. 10, on which customers ordered more than 5.4 million items. Amazon also said in December that it added music downloads from Warner Music Group to its Amazon MP3 online digital music store. Amazon MP3 sells songs without the copy protection software known as digital rights management, or DRM. Without DRM, songs can be played on multiple digital music players. Stock Performance: Shares of Amazon.com declined a bit less than 1 percent during the quarter. In the past year, the stock has traded between $36.30 and $101.09. The stock finished trading on Monday at $75.82. © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/22916810/site/14081545/
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