Amazon $AMZN’s stock rose 1.5% to $191.70 on Thursday afternoon, hitting a new 52-week high. The stock is up 25% so far in 2024 and 73% over the past year.
With artificial intelligence at the forefront, the e-commerce giant has been experiencing a surge. In the latest earnings report, the company posted better-than-expected revenue for its first quarter. For the period, it reported revenue of $143.3 billion, about $0.98 cents a share. Analysts forecasted it would earn $142.5 billion, or roughly $0.84 cents a share.
That increase was in part led by its AWS division and its advertising services, the company said in its earnings release. Sales for the company’s AWS division grew 17% year over year to $25 billion during the quarter. That surge in sales could put Amazon in a good position to compete with AI leaders such as Microsoft $MSFT and Alphabet $GOOGL.
Moreover, Amazon Prime delivery is getting faster than ever. After seeing record-breaking delivery speeds in 2023, the e-commerce giant said its first-quarter performance was even faster. In March, almost 60% of Prime member orders made in the 60 largest U.S. metropolitan areas arrived the same day or the following day, the company said Monday. And in London, Tokyo, and Toronto, 75% of deliveries came within two days.
Additionally, Amazon is making it easier than ever for users of its video streaming service to buy directly from commercials. The company announced earlier this week that it’s introducing three new interactive ad formats later this fall to its Prime Video service. The announcement came a week before the company was set to make its upfront presentation to advertisers.
-Rocio Fabbro, Bruce Gil, and Francisco Velasquez contributed to this article