Amazon looks like it's the clear winner of the mega-cap tech earnings season (AMZN)

pulse

February 2, 2018 2:17 PM

The company surprised analysts with big sales numbers for Alexa and its Web Services.

Amazon shares are rising after the company reported a stellar holiday quarter on Thursday.
The company surprised analysts with big sales numbers for Alexa and its Web Services.

Amazon reported a stellar fourth quarter and is watching its stock rise on Friday as a result.

Shares of Amazon are up 5.42% to $1,465.32 after reporting earnings of $3.75 per share compared to $1.83 that Wall Street was expecting. Earnings were boosted by a one-time $1.59 per share windfall from the new US tax law. The company reported revenue of $60.5 billion versus the $59.85 billion anticipated by Wall Street.

Amazon's earnings stand out against the other tech giants that reported earnings this week. Alphabet and Apple are both slipping after reporting their quarterly results after Thursday's closing bell.

Microsoft and Facebook both reported earnings on Wednesday, and each faced their own struggles. Investors were concerned over Microsoft's slow growth and sent to stock down 0.79% on Thursday after earnings. Facebook was forced to soothe investors worries about a 50 million hour-per-day drop in time spent on its newsfeed and ended Thursday up 3.32%.

CEO Jeff Bezos pointed to the massively popular Alexa voice-assistant as the biggest driver of the quarter's success.

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