Amazon beats quarterly sales estimates

Amazon.com Inc beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly sales on Thursday, as it raked in more fees from its Prime loyalty subscribers as well as from merchants using it services to sell and ship goods.

Shares of the e-commerce giant rose 7% in trading after the bell.

Amazon was a big pandemic winner as lockdown-stricken consumers relied heavily on it for services such as shopping and entertainment, while its cloud offerings underpinned remote working for millions.

However, the retailer, dependent on its vast network of delivery infrastructure, is facing the heat of red-hot inflation as fuel prices and labor costs surge.

To counter rising costs, Amazon said it would raise fees for its delivery and streaming service Prime in Europe by up to 43% a year, following a price hike in the United States.

The world's biggest online retailer said net sales were $121.23 billion in the second quarter, compared with analysts' expectations of $119.09 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

It projected net sales of between $125 billion and $130 billion for the third quarter. Analysts were expecting $126.42 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.