Some quotes from the Amazon earnings call following the release of its 2Q earnings report:
“In Q2, we incurred more than $4 billion of COVID-related expenses, getting products to customers and keeping employees safe. This included changes to over 150 of our processes to provide for social distancing as well as costs to onboard and train over 175,000 new employees who are hired to meet the higher customer demand. This $4 billion also included investments in personal protective equipment for employees and enhanced cleaning for our facilities.” – Brian Olsavsky, Amazon Chief Financial Officer
“Our 3P sellers, who are largely comprised of small and medium-sized businesses, also stepped up to help make more selection available for customers. And as a result, these small and medium-sized businesses have seen significant growth in their sales. Our third-party seller services revenue grew faster than online stores revenue in Q2, with strong growth in both fulfillment by Amazon and merchant fulfilled or MFN seller sales. Third-party units continue to represent more than half of overall unit volume, helped by improved quarter-over-quarter growth in active sellers. We are more committed than ever to supporting the success of the hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses to sell their products in Amazon stores.” – Olsavsky
*Note: Third-party sellers on Amazon are businesses that use the Amazon marketplace to sell their items. Third-party sellers are responsible for warehousing and delivering those items to the customers who ordered them.
“Our regular headcount grew 34% year-over-year as of the end of Q2 and continues to grow. We welcomed more than 175,000 new employees in March and April, many of whom were displaced from other jobs in the economy.”- Olsavsky
As of Friday morning, July 31, Amazon’s stock price is up nearly 140 points to $3,188 a share. Amazon stock started the calendar year at $1,898 a share, and based on the current stock price, the online giant’s valuation is about $1.6 trillion.
SEATTLE — Amazon.com, Inc. today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2020.
- Operating cash flow increased 42% to $51.2 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $36.0 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2019.
- Free cash flow increased to $31.9 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $25.0 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2019.
- Free cash flow less principal repayments of finance leases and financing obligations increased to $21.3 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $16.1 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2019.
- Free cash flow less equipment finance leases and principal repayments of all other finance leases and financing obligations increased to $19.4 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $13.0 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2019.
- Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totaled 517 million on June 30, 2020, compared with 510 million one year ago.
- Net sales increased 40% to $88.9 billion in the second quarter, compared with $63.4 billion in second quarter 2019. Excluding the $582 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 41% compared with second quarter 2019.
- Operating income increased to $5.8 billion in the second quarter, compared with operating income of $3.1 billion in second quarter 2019.
- Net income increased to $5.2 billion in the second quarter, or $10.30 per diluted share, compared with net income of $2.6 billion, or $5.22 per diluted share, in second quarter 2019.
“This was another highly unusual quarter, and I couldn’t be more proud of and grateful to our employees around the globe,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “As expected, we spent over $4 billion on incremental COVID-19-related costs in the quarter to help keep employees safe and deliver products to customers in this time of high demand—purchasing personal protective equipment, increasing cleaning of our facilities, following new safety process paths, adding new backup family care benefits, and paying a special thank you bonus of over $500 million to front-line employees and delivery partners. We’ve created over 175,000 new jobs since March and are in the process of bringing 125,000 of these employees into regular, full-time positions. And third-party sales again grew faster this quarter than Amazon’s first-party sales. Lastly, even in this unpredictable time, we injected significant money into the economy this quarter, investing over $9 billion in capital projects, including fulfillment, transportation, and AWS.”
Third Quarter 2020 Guidance
- Net sales are expected to be between $87.0 billion and $93.0 billion, or to grow between 24% and 33% compared with third quarter 2019. This guidance anticipates an unfavorable impact of approximately 20 basis points from foreign exchange rates.
- Operating income is expected to be between $2.0 billion and $5.0 billion, compared with $3.2 billion in third quarter 2019. This guidance assumes more than $2.0 billion of costs related to COVID-19.
- This guidance assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions, investments, restructurings, or legal settlements are concluded.