Amazon shares jump on strong Q2, sees Prime Day sales boost

Amazon reported second-quarter sales climbed 11% and forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations on Thursday, boosted by its biggest Prime Day sale event in July that drew price-conscious consumers to its e-commerce platform.

Shares of the e-commerce and cloud giant, helmed by CEO Andy Jassy, rose 6% in trading after the bell.

Discounts on goods and deal codes for the first time on services like hotel bookings drove US online sales up 6.1% to a record $12.7 billion during Amazon’s shopping event as inflation-hit Americans rushed to seize more bargains.

Amazon’s nearly 200 million Prime members saved over $2.5 billion on about 375 million items sold during the two-day event.

Analysts expect that to boost advertising and merchant services revenue too as more third-party merchants sign-up.

The company forecast current-quarter net sales in the range of $138 billion and $143 billion.

Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting revenue of $138.25 billion.

Revenue in the second quarter rose to $134.4 billion, compared to estimates of $131.50 billion.