Amazon fails to make a profit in Q2, but at least sales are good

Amazon just released some disappointing numbers for its 2013 second-quarter earnings. But there’s a bright side: Sales are looking good.

The company reported revenue of $15.7 billion with a loss of 2 cents per share. Amazon posted a net loss of $7 million for the quarter. A year ago, Amazon reported earnings of 7 cents a share on $12.8 billion in sales.

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Today’s results are worse than what analysts had predicted when it comes to profit. Analysts surveyed by FactSet predicted earnings of 5 cents per share on revenue of $15.73 billion.

The fact that analysts thought Amazon would eke out a profit but Amazon couldn’t deliver is the most disappointing aspect of today’s report. Still, analysts are likely happy that Amazon boosted its overall revenue to $15.7 billion this quarter from $12.8 billion a year ago.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos did not address the lack of profits in the earnings release, He instead use a snoozy prepared statement to praise the company’s products and digital media offerings.

“We’re so grateful to our customers for their response to Kindle devices and our digital ecosystem. This past quarter, our top 10 selling items worldwide were all digital products – Kindles, Kindle Fire HDs, accessories and digital content,” Bezos said in the statement. “The Kindle service keeps getting better. The Kindle Store now offers millions of titles including more than 350,000 exclusives that you won’t find anywhere else. Prime Instant Video has surpassed 40,000 titles, including many premium exclusives like Downton Abbey and Under the Dome. And we’ve added more than a thousand books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows to Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, bringing together in one place all the types of content kids and parents love.”

For the third quarter, Amazon has forecast revenue in the range of $15.45 billion to $17.15 billion.

Amazon’s stock price fell about 3 percent in after-hours trading following the news.