For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the Seattle company said Tuesday it earned $5 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a net loss of $545 million, or $1.53 per share, in the year-ago period.
The company also recorded a pro forma net profit, which excludes certain costs such as losses from investments, of $35 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with a loss of $90 million, or 25 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call were predicting a pro forma net loss of 7 cents per share.
A year ago, Amazon executives said the company would aim to turn a pro forma operating profit, which excludes many expenses, by the end of 2001. The company said it had a pro forma operating profit of $59 million, compared with a loss of $60 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
The results were on net sales of $1.12 billion, a 15 percent increase over sales of $972 million in the fourth quarter of 2000, showing the company had healthy sales in the all-important holiday quarter despite what was for many retailers a lackluster season.
For the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, the company recorded a net loss of $567.2 million, or $1.56 per share, compared with a net loss of $1.41 billion, or $4.02 per share, in 2000.
Net sales were $3.12 billion, compared with net sales of $2.76 billion in fiscal 2000.
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