Amazon.com reported strong sales that helped the online retailer narrow its first-quarter loss to $10.1 million.
Boosted by free shipping and steep discounts, the company reported quarterly revenues of $1.08 billion, a 28 per cent increase over sales of $847 million in 2002.
For the January-March period, Amazon.com's loss was 3 cents a share, compared with a loss of $23.2 million, or 6 cents a share for the same period a year earlier.
Amazon.com also reports "pro forma" results that exclude certain non-cash charges. Calculated that way, it earned a $40.3 million profit, or 10 cents a share, easily beating analysts' expectations on that basis. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were projecting pro forma income of 4 cents a share.
Analysts credited Amazon.com's results on its ability to cut costs across the company.
The Seattle-based company also delivered good news in its strong guidance for the coming quarter. For the second quarter, Amazon.com said it expects net sales to be between $1 billion and $1.05 billion - a 24 per cent to 30 per cent increase over the 2002 quarter.
It raised its guidance for the full year, estimating full-year sales to be $4.7 billion or more, representing growth of more than 19 per cent.