Unlike last quarter, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock is rising on a strong earnings report released on Thursday after the bell, so we’re going to dive right into the details in our analysis of the company.

Company Overview

We all know Amazon. This is the biggest online retailer out there and you can buy just about anything you can think of and have it delivered to your home in just a few days.

The Earnings Breakdown

Amazon’s reported earnings surprised everyone with strong results. Sales were up 34% thanks to sales of the new Kindle Fire, earnings came in at 28 cents while analysts expected just 7 cents per share. That represents a 300% surprise and all of this came while the company increased the number of employees by 70%!

Going forward, the company expects net sales to come in between $11.9 billion and $13.3 billion next quarter. This represents a very strong 20% to 34% increase compared with the year ago quarter.

Current Ratings

I have to say that I was a fan of this company for years and that I led my Blue Chip Growth members to triple-digit gains in this stock. But the company ran into some troubles late last year and last quarter’s earnings were pretty dismal. I had to downgrade the stock to a hold. I will say that I’m impressed with this quarter’s numbers, but I will have to dive deeper into the numbers (and would like to see this performance repeated) before putting a full buy recommendation back on the stock. I urge you to keep an eye on AMZN through my free

Portfolio Grader ratings system.

Bottom Line

AMZN is either back on the path to redemption or experiencing a temporary growth spurt. Time will tell and I will be watching this position very carefully. I’ll be in touch if I upgrade this stock. But, until then, AMZN is a hold.

Recommendation: Hold

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