Amazon shares are trading down 13% in after-hours market as of this writing (while Amazon's conference call is in progress.) Quarterly sales of $35.7 billion were slightly below Street expectations, and while management's guidance for first quarter sales of $26.5-$29.0 billion straddled the Street consensus of $27.5 billion, clearly the market wanted a number outside the upper end of the range. Also, Amazon's fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.00 were well below Street consensus of $1.61, though, historically, analysts have paid much more attention to AMZN's top line than its bottom line.
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