Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights. A strong rally in the NASDAQ Composite Index has pushed Amazon’s market capitalisation past the US$2 trillion mark for the first time. Shares of the e-commerce behemoth are up 29% year-to-date to close at US$193.
61 on 27 June, giving the company a market capitalisation of US$2.01 trillion. Amazon now joins the ranks of an elite bunch of technology stocks that have surpassed the US$2 trillion threshold such as (NASDAQ: GOOGL), (NASDAQ: NVDA), (NASDAQ: AAPL), and (NASDAQ: MSFT).
The e-commerce outfit reported a stellar set of earnings for the first quarter of 2024 (1Q 2024). Sales increased by 12.5% year on year to US$143.
3 billion while operating profit soared 220% year on year to US$15.3 billion. Net profit came in at US$10.
4 billion, more than triple the US$3.2 billion reported a year ago. Amazon also generated a positive free cash flow of US$4.
1 billion for the quarter, reversing the US$9.4 billion free cash outflow in the prior period. In particular, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seeing a US$100 billion annual revenue run rate in line with the increased appeal of incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into AWS’s capabilities.
Amazon has provided an optimistic outlook for its 2Q 2024. Sales are projected to come in between US$144 billion to US$149 billion for a 7% to 11% year on year growth. Operating income is projected to come in at US$12 billion at the mid-point of the company’s guidance, translati.
