Amazon Prime’s 17% Price Hike

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Amazon Prime’s 17% Price Hike

Shares of Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) jumped 14.26% during after-hours trading on Thursday after the technology giant posted positive earnings.

Financials: Amazon reported earnings per share of $27.75, which was better than expected. Net sales of $137.4 billion were slightly below estimates.

Saviors: Amazon’s e-commerce business did not have a strong quarter. But Amazon was saved thanks to the company’s advertising business, which increased revenue by 32%, and the company’s AWS cloud business, which grew 40%.

Prime Example: Amazon announced it was raising the price of Prime in the U.S. from $119 per year to $139 per year. The monthly membership will go up from $12.99 to $14.99, an increase of about 17%.

The Problems: Amazon’s 9% increase in net sales wasn’t extraordinary. There are also clear issues with the company’s e-commerce business.

Quote: “As expected over the holidays, we saw higher costs driven by labor supply shortages and inflationary pressures, and these issues persisted into the first quarter due to Omicron.” - Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.

Final Thoughts: The company also saw $11.8 billion in income from its investment in Rivian (Nasdaq: RiVN), which went public in November.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: REGN), Sanofi (Nasdaq: SNY), Cboe Global Markets (BATS: CBOE), Aon (NYSE: AON), Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL), Air Products & Chemicals (NYSE: APD), Construction Partners (Nasdaq: ROAD), Twist Bioscience (Nasdaq: TWST), Eaton (NYSE: ETN), Spectrum Brands Holdings (NYSE: SPB).

Notable IPOs Today: EVe Mobility Acquisition Corp (NYSE: EVE), Battery Future Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BFAC), Kimbell Tiger Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: TGR), Pearl Holdings Acquisition Corp Class A Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: PRLH), Arcellx, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: ACLX), Nuvectis Pharma, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: NVCT), Anghami Inc. Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: ANGH), Ahren Acquisition Corp. Class A Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: AHRN), Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRCT), Silver Spike Investment Corp. Common Stock (Nasdaq: SSIC).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: The Distillery at South Shore (Honeycomb), Blazing Star Cafe (MainVest).

Notable Economic Events Today: Unemployment rate (8:30 a.m. ET), Nonfarm payrolls (8:30 a.m. ET), Average hourly earnings (8:30 a.m. ET), Participation rate (8:30 a.m. ET).

Ford Crushed by Economic Headwinds

Shares of Ford (NYSE: F) fell 4.17% during after-hours trading on Thursday after the automobile manufacturer posted mixed earnings.

Financials: Ford reported earnings of 26 cents per share, which was lower than estimates. Its revenue of $37.7 billion beat expectations.

Headwinds: Ford’s outlook was fine, but the company also mentioned some things that scared investors, including persistent supply chain disruptions, inflationary pressure, and higher commodity costs.

Final Thoughts: The company also reiterated that it will double worldwide electric vehicle manufacturing capacity to at least 600,000 by 2023.

Streaming Startups Raise Money Through Crowdfunding

Equity Crowdfunding allows retail investors to buy shares in private companies, including a trio of startups that are in the growing television streaming space.

Going Local: Hyperlocal company Streaming Television Inc raised $70,000 on TruCrowd and it is still accepting new investors.

Interactive: Clash TV, an interactive live-streaming app, raised $772,000 on Wefunder and it is still accepting new investors.

Filling the Void: Invincible, a diverse media and entertainment company that owns streaming channels, has already raised $181,00 from investors on Wefunder and it is still accepting new investors.

Final Thoughts: Equity crowdfunding can be lucrative for investors, but keep in mind that investing in startups can also be risky.

Trends to Watch

Bust: Oil Frackers Brace for End of the U.S. Shale Boom (The Wall Street Journal)

Oh, Snap: Snap shares rocket as much as 62% on first-ever quarterly net profit (CNBC)

Exemption: US Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Provide Tax Relief for Small Crypto Transactions (CoinDesk)

The Future: MIT experts test technical research for a hypothetical central bank digital currency (MIT News)

As Expected: As Meta plunge slams Wall Street, retail investors 'buy the dip' (Reuters)

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