国际英语新闻：Amazon reports profit rise in Q1

BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Amazon Thursday reported a net profit of 299 million U.S. dollars, or 66 cents per share, in the first quarter, up from 177 million dollars in the same period of 2009, but forecast a disappointing outlook.

The U.S. online retail giant's revenue increased 46 percent to 7.13 billion dollars in the quarter -- outpacing the 6.87 billion dollars expected by analysts.

The Seattle, Washington-based company said North America sales shot up 47 percent to 3.78 billion dollars during the period while international sales from Amazon sites in Britain, China, France, Germany and Japan surged 45 percent to 3.35 billion dollars.

The company estimated operating profit in its second quarter at 220 million to 320 million dollars on a revenue of 6.1 billion to 6.7 billion dollars. The forecasting raised concerns about its future margins and sent its shares down about 7 percent.

Analysts, on average, have been expecting an operating profit of 327.8 million dollars on revenue of 6.43 billion dollars, according to a Thomson Reuters report.

"The fact that operating income (outlook) has a much lower range to it is the key driver of the downside," said Scott Tilghman, an analyst at Hudson Square Research.

Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of the company, said the electronic book reader the Kindle remains Amazon's "number one best-selling product" though declining to reveal the sales figure.

The market share of Kindle is likely to be affected by Apple Inc.'s iPad, seen as a potential rival to the Kindle, according to the report.