NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon posted higher first-quarter profit and sales, underscoring the online behemoth's hold on shoppers looking for low prices in an uncertain economy.
The Seattle-based company also reported strong sales growth for its prominent cloud computing arm Amazon Web Services, it said after the market closed Thursday.
However, uncertainty about President Donald Trump's tariffs clouded Amazon's outlook.
Trump’s erratic trade policies — including 145% tariffs on China — have paralyzed businesses and threaten to raise prices and hurt consumers. However, big companies like Amazon are expected to navigate the climate better than small retailers.
Experts say that retailers are heading into key shipping periods, starting with the back-to-school season, and many have paused some shipments, creating worries of shortages later this summer.
Amazon said that it earned $17.13 billion, or $1.59 per share, for the quarter ended March 31. That's up from $10.43 billion, or 98 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose 9% to $155.7 billion, up from $143.3 billion from the year-ago period.
Sales for Amazon Web services rose 17% to $29.3 billion during the fiscal first quarter.
Amazon is one of the biggest players in the race around generative artificial intelligence. Like other tech companies, it has increased investments in the technology and is spending billions to expand data centers that support AI and cloud computing. The company is also investing in its own computer chips and those developed by Nvidia. It has also expanded its own AI models and integrated generative AI into other parts of its business.
In the first quarter, Amazon reported spending $25.02 billion on property and equipment, higher than the $14.92 billion spent in same period in 2024.
Amazon shares fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading on Thursday.