Amazon rides shoe-fetishist to 68% profit leap

Amazon says its profits climbed 68 per cent in its first quarter. And it says the Kindle "remains our #1 bestselling product." But, yes, it's unclear how much of that profit rise came from the seminal ereader, which now sits in the shadow of the Apple iPad. Amazon has never given specific Kindle sales figures. And this didn't …

[sleepy]

Still grossly overvalued.

With revenue growing at 42%/year AMZN gets a P/E of 75, but AAPL with revenue growing at 49%/year only gets about 20. Either AMZN should be $40 instead of $150, or AAPL should be $1000 instead of $265. Ever get the feeling the stock market is far from a perfect valuation machine, but instead is highly manipulated? (Just a personal view; not investment advice, etc)

[Pascal Monett]

True that

The Kindle is indeed grossly overvalued.

Oh, you were talking about the stock market ? Sorry, I tend to not worry about things I can do nothing about.

[Robert Carnegie]

For some reason I'm imagining clown's shoes.

"Zappos". Hmm. Oh, well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zippy_the_Pinhead

[Anonymous Coward]

@ sleepy

@ sleepy - you would be right if the price of a stock was purely defined by revenue growth - but this isn't the case - profit; future potential growth; risk; dividend payout policy etc all play a part in a stock price

e.g. (ps the following is not investment advice or research but just guesses)

The market may see more risk in a luxury hardware manufacturer than in a global online retailer (especially if the economy worsens!!!) and price accordingly - just cos they are "techs" does not mean they share the same risks

Both shares are performing well - but investors may take the view that until Apple has a new super product about to come out - its growthover the mid term may be limited...... On the other hand they may see that Amazon as a place where a lot of shoppers go to save money - and will continue to go as there are few to dislodge it from its position!!!

Dividend policy is a biggie - major financial institutions (who hold the bulk of investments) are looking for steady dividend income over the long term (so they can keep paying out on insurances, pensions etc). So they may be prepared to pay more for Amazon if they have good dividend record and are likley to keep paying out than if Apple is not...

Apple has to continually make huge R&D investments with no guarantee of hitting it bug - while Amazon just has to make sure its competitively priced (which it can do because of its market position)

I don;t know if any of the above hold true for either of these companies - but what I'm trying to say is that revenue growth isn't the sole determinant of a share price

in my OPINION (not financial advice) I think both are overpriced anyway - especially Amazon!!!

[Robert Carnegie]

...Bezor sounds like a clown name as well.

Is it just me?