Amazon reported first-quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday, sending shares up 7% in after-hours trading after its significantly better-than-expected report.
The company reported earnings per share of $3.27, well above the $1.26 that analysts had been expecting. This worked out to $1.6 billion in net income, up from $724 million last year.
Revenue was $51.04 billion, above the $49.78 billion that Wall Street forecast and a 43% increase from the same time last year. $31.6 billion came from products and $19.4 billion came from services.
The growth was driven by its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing business, which was up 49% year-over-year, accounting for $5.4 billion in revenue, or 11% of Amazon’s total revenue.
“AWS lets developers do more and be nimbler, and it continues to get even better every day,” said CEO Jeff Bezos, in a statement. “That’s why you’re seeing this remarkable acceleration in AWS growth, now for two quarters in a row.” Microsoft and Google are amongst its competitors.
Amazon also saw strong growth at home, up 46% in North America, accounting for 60% of Amazon’s overall business. International revenue saw 34% growth and makes up 29% of Amazon’s business.
Shares closed at $1,517.96 on Thursday. Shares are up 65% in the past year. The company has a market cap of $735 billion.