Amazon in Wonderland: Earnings Down, But the Mad Tea Party Rages On

Come in, have some tea, and let’s play “Name the Annual Report”. The company is a retailer, just finished the year with $67 billion in sales. Gross margins were 21%. Net income was $2.3 billion. Sales were up 21% and earnings up 17% over the prior year. Oh, the Board of Directors was pleased enough to increase the dividend for the 20th year in a row. Obviously, we’re not talking about e-tail giant Amazon, which reported a net loss on the year yesterday and missed analysts forecasts for both revenue and earnings. The answer? Walmart, fiscal 1994. In fact, the Arkansas giant clearly outdid the performance of Amazon’s just-completed year ($61B revenue, $39 million net loss, no dividends ever). For all that good news, Walmart’s market cap reached around $65 billion. Amazon’s lesser numbers are worth north of $120 billion today.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/01/30/amazon-in-wonderland-earnings-down-but-the-mad-tea-party-rages-on/