Investing.com -- Amazon issued softer guidance for the current quarter Thursday, offsetting better-than-expected Q1 results despite underwhelming growth in its key cloud computing segment.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell more than 2% in premarket trading.
For the three months ended on March 31, Amazon reported earnings per share of $1.59 on revenue of $155.67 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated per-share income of $1.37 and sales of $155.29B.
The beat was driven by jump in operating income to $18.4B in Q1 from $15.3B in the prior-quarter, underpinned by strong growth in North America and its key cloud segment.
Amazon Web Services, its cloud business segment, grew revenue 17% to $29.3B, in line with estimates.
The tech giant forecasts second-quarter operating income (OI) of between $13.0B and $17.5B, missing estimates of $17.82, while sales was guided in a range of $159.0B and $164.0B, topping expectations for $161.06B.
Piper Sandler analysts said the OI guidance miss was "understandable given the uncertain environment."
"AMZN remains relentless on lowering cost to serve and appears on the cusp of an AI product cycle, although macro creates uncertainty," they added.
Separately, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) analysts believe the guidance "suggests near-term stability," while the company’s second-half outlook remains "a question."
"Uncertainties remain, but platform [is] in good shape," BofA analysts said, reiterating a Buy rating.
Yasin Ebrahim contributed to this report.