Amazon sales easily top most optimistic estimates

Amazon shares spiked Thursday after the online retailer blew past quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, boosted by growth in the North American market and cloud computing segment.

The company posted second-quarter profit of 19 cents per share on $23.2 billion in revenue. Sales rose 20 percent and were roughly $300 million better than the highest of 36 estimates from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, according to CNBC.

Wall Street had expected Amazon to report a quarterly loss of 14 cents per share on revenue of $22.4 illion.

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