Amazon (AMZN 2.96%) stock sold off more than 5% in the wake of its earnings report. The company reported impressive revenue growth that decelerated slightly, giving investors pause. However, there was an important point that investors may have missed that helped put that in context.
In this Earnings Review that aired on Fool Live on Oct. 30, Fool.com contributors Danny Vena and Jason Hall discuss what caused the slower growth and why investors with a long-term time horizon shouldn't be concerned.
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Jason Hall: As of this moment in time, Amazon stock is down about 5.5%. Two of the biggest companies in the world, the stocks are tanking today. Danny Vena, talk to us.
Danny Vena: When you look at the high level numbers, Amazon did really well. Net sales for the third quarter were up 37% year-over-year. The company's net income per share essentially tripled. I don't think you could ask for much more than that. But if you look at it, I think the thing that investors are looking at is first quarter and second quarter, revenue grew 26% and 40%. So the 37% is a little bit of a deceleration from the year-over-year growth that they gave in the first half of the year.
But I think that also deserves context. You have to remember that Amazon Prime Day is typically held in July. This year, it was held in October. What you're having is the Prime Day revenue got shifted from the second quarter into the third quarter. I think that explains that. But again, Amazon is another stock that's had a huge run-up this year. If you look at it in that context, a little bit of a pullback is not necessarily a bad thing and I think that that company is going to have easier comps in the coming quarter with the move of Prime Day, and so I wouldn't worry about it.
Jason Hall: It's a reminder that a stock price movement on a single day is probably best viewed as noise and investors always do better by focusing on the signal of what's materially happening with the business. I saw something on Twitter that somebody put that I thought was really interesting. The fact that Amazon has increased its employee headcount by basically double over the past year, and what somebody said on Twitter is "Shortest investment thesis ever." You think about that and I think there's a lot to be said of that.
