Amazon’s results are below expectations in 2022

Amazon’s results are well below expectations. The US company has not been able to avoid once again the problems that affect most companies and has presented results for the third quarter of 2022 "weaker" than expected by analysts. 

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However, the most alarming aspect has been its forecasts for the fourth quarter, which would have led to a 19% drop in the value of its shares.

The company's revenues came in at $127.1 billion in the third quarter, compared to the $127.46 billion anticipated by the consensus. 

Regardless, their net sales increased by 15% in the third quarter, compared to 110.8 billion dollars in the same period of the previous year.

Increased sales, but reduced benefits 

U.S. sales through the marketplace are up 20% to $78.8 billion, while international segment sales are down 5% to $27.7 billion, but up 12% excluding exchange rate changes.

Amazon's operating income was down to $2.5 billion in the third quarter, compared with $4.9 billion in the third quarter of the last year 2021.

For operating EBITDA, it was also down 27% to $39.7 billion in the trailing twelve months, compared to $54.7 billion in the trailing twelve months that ended September 30, 2021.

All in all, Amazon is experiencing a complex phenomenon: on one hand, its net sales are increasing substantially, on the other, its operational expenses keep soaring out of control.  

For example, Amazon's annual operating expenses for 2022 were $285.981B, a 25.64% increase from 2021. This is due to a series of new logistic centers and other regional new infrastructure that the internet retail titan has been inaugurating in Asia and Easter Europe. 

It remains to be seen if Amazon's profitability will benefit from this aggressive expansion, or on the contrary, the huge investments in infrastructure will end up damaging the king of e-commerce.