AMAZON’S SECOND QUARTER SALES UP 39% TO $52.9 BILLION

Amazon reported better-than-expected earnings on Thursday afternoon, a day after Facebook’s lackluster second-quarter earnings report led to a historic sell-off.

The Seattle tech giant on Thursday reported earnings-per-share of $5.07, higher than analysts’ expectations of $2.49 per share. Net sales for Amazon Web Services, or AWS, climbed to $6.1 billion, which is up from $4.1 billion during the same period in 2017.

The online mega retailer reported net sales increased 39 percent to $52.9 billion in the second quarter, compared with $38.0 billion in second quarter 2017. Excluding the $760 million favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 37% compared with second quarter 2017.

Net income increased to $2.5 billion in the second quarter, or $5.07 per diluted share, compared with net income of $197 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, in second quarter 2017.

Looking to the third quarter, net sales are expected to be between $54.0 billion and $57.5 billion, or to grow between 23 percent and 31 percent compared with the third quarter of 2017.