Why Amazon.com Shares Are Soaring Today

Shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) soared in Friday's trading session, boosted by a great third-quarter earnings report. The e-commerce and cloud computing giant crushed Wall Street's expectations and its own guidance across the board. Amazon shares surged 13.7% higher as of 1 p.m. Eastern time, setting fresh all-time highs in the process.

Amazon's net sales rose 34% year over year, landing at $43.7 billion. The recent acquisition of grocery store chain Whole Foods Market contributed $1.3 billion to this tally, having closed four weeks before the end of the reporting period. Adjusted earnings held steady at $0.52 per diluted share. Your average Wall Street analyst would have settled for earnings of $0.03 per share and sales in the neighborhood of $42.1 billion.

The company's revenue guidance for the quarter topped out at $41.75 billion. After backing out the Whole Foods portion and currency exchange effects, Amazon's net sales still landed above that guidance range, stopping at $42.1 billion. The company also exceeded its operating profit target by $47 million, or 16%.

Source: Fool.com