SAN FRANCISCO - Online retail titan Amazon on Thursday reported that its cloud and ads units helped it beat earnings expectations in the first quarter of this year despite shoppers and businesses being more careful about spending.
"For the first time in several quarters, Amazon may finally have a bit of wind at its back," said Insider Intelligence principal analyst Andrew Lipsman.
Amazon shares spiked more than 10 percent shortly after release of the earnings figures, only to sink slightly below the day's closing price as it warned that customers were remaining watchful of their budgets.
Amazon reported a profit of $3.2-billion on revenue that climbed 9 percent to $127.4-billion in the quarter.
The net income was about a billion dollars more than analysts had forecast.
"There's a lot to like about how our teams are delivering for customers, particularly amidst an uncertain economy," said Amazon chief executive said Andy Jassy.
"Our Stores business is continuing to improve the cost to serve in our fulfilment network while increasing the speed with which we get products into the hands of customers."
Jassy in March laid out a plan to cut 9,000 more jobs from the online retail giant's workforce, following the 18,000 that were axed in January.
The layoffs account for a smaller percentage of Amazon's total workforce, which ran up to 1.5 million people in December 2022, than the cuts seen at some other tech giants.
Jassy told workers that the extra layoffs were necessary as the company seeks to downsize after years of hiring, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic when people turned to the internet for shopping.
Amazon said that the number of packages handled by a "Robin" robotic system used across its operations in North America and Europe eclipsed a billion during the quarter.
Robin uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to help workers sort and handle packages being shipped to Amazon customers, according to the company.