Online retail giant Amazon.com (AMZN) will report its fourth quarter earnings results on January 31 after the market closes. The company's results depend on its ability to improve its margins especially during the busy holiday season. In fact, there is already a fear that the company could post a loss during the fourth quarter.
During the third quarter results, Amazon hinted that it might suffer an operating loss of $200 million, while on the positive note its guidance indicated to an operating profit of maximum $250 million.
The company is having a poor run in operating margin. In the last four quarters, its operating margin has come down to around one percent in the third quarter from around 2 percent in the second quarter, from around 3.2 percent in the first quarter and from around 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Expectations
Wall Street analysts are predicting Seattle, Washington-based Amazon.com to deliver earnings of 19 cents a share on revenues of $18.20 billion for the fourth quarter. This is in comparison to company's last year earnings of 91 cents a share on revenues of $12.95 billion.
Third Quarter Results
The company reported net income of $63 million or 14 cents a share, sharply down 73 percent from $231 million or 51 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.
However, net sales surged 44 percent to $10.88 billion from $7.56 billion in the previous year quarter. Analysts' consensus estimation was for earnings of 24 cents a share on revenues of $10.93 billion.
Earnings History
Amazon's earnings failed to meet analysts' estimations during the third and first quarter, while it topped expectations during the second quarter and previous year's fourth quarter. The company earned 14 cents a share, 41 cents a share, 44 cents a share and 91 cents a share during the last four quarters.
On the revenue side, the company generated top line of $10.88 billion, $9.91 billion, $9.86 billion and $12.95 billion in the third, second, first and previous year's fourth quarter.
Versus Peers
Amazon's gross margin is only 22.52 percent for the trailing twelve-month period, much lower than industry average of 36.25 percent and eBay's 70.3 percent. Similarly, operating margin is 2.47 percent versus eBay's 20.37 percent but higher than industry average of 0.73 percent.
Recently, eBay reported net income of $1.98 billion or $1.51 per share, sharply higher than $559.2 million or 42 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. The profit was driven mainly by the sale of Skype and related items to the tune of $1.66 billion. Excluding the gain, net income would have been $788.6 million or 60 cents a share, up 15.3 percent from $683.8 million or 52 cents a share in the year earlier quarter.
Net revenues surged 35 percent to $3.38 billion from $2.50 billion in the previous year quarter.
iStock Punch
Though Amazon's operating margin is slightly higher than industry average, it is much below eBay's thereby indicating that there is lot of room for the company to improve its operating efficiency. The fourth quarter results involve holiday season and hiring more temporary jobs to meet the rush could further hurt its operating margin. The company needs to come up with concrete plan to stop the falling margin.