Amazon.com (AMZN) opened the books on a huge earnings beat today after the closing bell.  The online retailer said third-quarter earnings surged 68% from the same period a year ago, due largely to a strong increase in sales. Net income for the quarter was $199 million, or 45 cents a share. Revenue also surged, rising 28% to $5.45 billion.

Amazon’s stellar third quarter performance easily bested Wall Street expectations for earnings of 33 cents a share on revenue of $5.02 billion.  For the fourth quarter, which, of course includes the all-import holiday shopping season, Amazon predicted revenue in the range of $8.125 billion to $9.125 billion. That’s well above Wall Street expectations, which called for sales of $8.13 billion.

If you look at the chart here of AMZN, we can see the shares rollin’ up the river.  The stock is up over 80% year to date, and that doesn’t include the action in Thursday’s after-hours session, where the stock surged over 10% immediately following the earnings news.

Of course, the question now for those considering a move into AMZN shares is how far can this river run?  From a technical perspective, as well as fundamentally, I think AMZN shares have a lot more to room to swim upstream.  

The chart shows that this stock is by no means overextended, as it still trades relative close to its short- and long-term moving averages.  Moreover, the Relative Strength Index (RSI), a measure that indicates if a stock is oversold or overbought, is just 53.88.  Traditionally, a stock doesn’t approach overbought status until the RSI is well into the 60s.  The RSI will likely spike in Friday trade, given the big buying in the after-hours session Thursday, but this shouldn’t deter you from taking a position in AMZN.

I suspect we are going to have a solid holiday shopping season, and much of that shopping is likely to take place at Amazon.com.  If you want to roll up the river with a great stock, look no further than AMZN.

Related Articles:

• What Are Twitter, Facebook and MySpace Really Worth?
  
• 5 Health Care Stocks to Buy Now
  
• China Mobile (CHL) on a Path for Growth