Amazon posts $108.5 billion in Q1 sales

Beating out analyst expectations and tacking on to a slew of recent blockbuster reports from big-tech giants as stocks climb to new highs, ecommerce giant Amazon reported its best first-quarter sales ever Thursday after the market closed.

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, is worth an estimated $202 billion, reports Forbes.

Seattle-based Amazon reported revenue of $108.5 billion in the first quarter, surging 44% year over year and beating out analyst expectations of $104.5 billion.

Boosted by stimulus checks and improving sales of Amazon Web Services (AWS), net income hit $15.79 per share, or roughly $8.1 billion—eclipsing expectations of $9.54 per share and more than tripling from $2.5 billion one year ago.

The release marks Amazon's second-biggest quarter ever for sales, behind only the $125.6 billion nabbed in last year's fourth quarter thanks to a later-than-usual Prime Day and the pandemic holiday season.

Amazon shares jumped 5% in after-hours trading immediately after the announcement; the stock ticked up 0.4% Thursday, lifting its year-to-date gain to about 9%—lower than the tech-heavy Nasdaq's 11% increase.

"In just 15 years, AWS has become a $54 billion annual sales... business competing against the world's largest technology companies, and its growth is accelerating—up 32% year over year," Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in the earnings release, touting the fast-growing segment that analysts expect will drive the bulk of Amazon's future growth.

Bezos started Amazon as an online bookseller operating out of his Seattle garage in 1994, and the company has since grown to become one of the world's most valuable companies with businesses spanning cloud storage, video streaming, groceries and more.

Last year, about 56% of Amazon's $386 billion in total sales came from products sold on the platform, while the rest came from services like AWS, Amazon Prime and advertising. In February, Amazon announced Bezos would step down as CEO in the third quarter after 27 years at the company's helm, ceding the position to AWS CEO Andy Jassy—a sign the company could double-down on its quickly growing service offerings.

A booming pandemic rally helped Amazon shares nearly double since the start of last year, creating the nation's third-largest company with a market capitalization of nearly $1.8 trillion.

"Last year, Amazon lost sales to competition—including Walmart, Target, eBay and others—because it couldn't keep up with demand, and it made a strategic decision to emphasize essentials during the start of the pandemic," Tom Forte, a senior research analyst at investment bank DA Davidson said in a pre-earnings note.

"Since then, it has ramped up staffing and fulfillment-center square footage and, in our view, is better positioned to recapture those sales."