Amazon (AMZN -1.61%) had a rough 2022 as rising inflation weighed on earnings, so last year the company revamped its cost structure to turn things around. And now this year, the market giant is showing investors they still can count on it for major growth. In the latest earnings report, sales increased in the double digits, and net income more than tripled.
This is thanks to Amazon's moves to boost efficiency and its ongoing dominance in the high-growth markets of e-commerce and cloud computing. And speaking of the cloud, this is where we'll find the company's biggest victory of the quarter. Gains here are significant because Amazon Web Services (AWS) generally is Amazon's profit driver -- so top performance by AWS should translate into stronger profitability for the company.
Let's check out this massive news for shareholders that Amazon delivered (excuse the pun) during its most recent earnings report...
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Amazon's earnings track record
First, a quick summary of Amazon's earnings track record. The company has grown sales and net profit into the billions of dollars over time, and it even doubled its fulfillment network in earlier stages of the pandemic due to overwhelming e-commerce demand. In more recent times, higher inflation hurt the wallets of consumers and budgets of businesses, resulting in weakness in Amazon's e-commerce and cloud sales.
But Amazon made a few key moves that set the company up for growth as the economic situation improved. Amazon revised its cost structure to favor efficiency and even shifted its U.S. fulfillment model from a national one to a regional one -- bringing inventory closer to the consumer. This particular decision already has started lowering Amazon's cost to serve, and the company says it's far from done when it comes to streamlining processes.
During tough economic times, Amazon directed AWS customers to options that helped them stay within their budgets -- even though this meant lower revenue for AWS in the near term, it kept these customers coming back. And today AWS is benefiting as many customers have emerged from the cost-cutting mode and now are deploying new projects.
Finally, Amazon put its investment focus on cloud computing, ramping up infrastructure as well as its presence in the hot field of artificial intelligence (AI). AWS is going all in on AI, offering customers everything they need for their projects: from compute for those building their own large language models (LLMs) to a fully managed service that offers customers access to top LLMs to customize. And Amazon also offers customers a variety of AI-powered apps across its businesses -- from a shopping assistant on the e-commerce platform to a coding assistant through AWS.
Amazon's big news
Now, let's get to the massive news Amazon reported late last month. To put this into context, it's important to remember that as recently as the second quarter of last year, AWS reported a decline in operating income. Yet, in the most recent quarter, AWS' net sales rose 17% and operating income soared 84%. And the big news is AWS, reporting $25 billion in sales for the quarter, achieved a $100 billion annual revenue run rate.
This is massive news for investors because it shows Amazon's investments in AI and technology infrastructure are paying off -- and considering AWS' role in Amazon's overall profitability, this bodes well for the company's profit moving forward. Why? Because we're just at the start of the potential AI revolution.
The AI market, growing at a double-digit compound annual growth rate, is forecast to reach more than $1 trillion by the end of the decade. AWS is the world's leading cloud provider, so it's well positioned to benefit from demand for AI products and services -- especially since it's well prepared, offering customers so many options from budget to premium.
What does this mean for investors? That even at 41x forward earnings estimates, Amazon shares are reasonably priced today, so worth a buy -- and if you're already a shareholder, you're likely to gain by holding on as the AI story develops.
Amazon has a solid growth track record, built as its e-commerce and cloud businesses took off, but this big tech and consumer stock hasn't reached the late stages of its growth story. The company's monetization of AI is just beginning, and this along with its ongoing dominance in e-commerce and cloud services make Amazon a top growth stock to own for the long haul.
