Amazon reports loss, cautious on Q3 forecast

Amazon.com Inc reported a second-quarter net loss and issued cautious third-quarter forecasts on Thursday, pressuring shares of the world's largest Internet retailer.

Amazon shares declined 2.1 percent to USD 297 in after-hours trading following the results.

Also read: Samsung posts record profit; mobile growth dips

Amazon reported a second-quarter net loss of USD 7 million, or 2 cents a share, compared to a profit of USD 7 million, or a penny a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to USD 15.70 billion from USD 12.83 billion in the same period last year.

Amazon was expected earn 5 cents a share on USD 15.73 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Amazon is trying to turn itself from an online retailer into a broader technology company offering consumer gadgets like tablets and cloud computing services to corporations and governments. It is doing this while expanding in competitive overseas markets such as China.

Amazon is spending billions of dollars on this expansion, which has taken a toll on its earnings. However, investors have so far trusted that Chief Executive and Founder Jeff Bezos can pull it off and produce big profits in the future. That's pushed Amazon shares to new records in recent weeks.

For the third quarter, Amazon forecast revenue of USD 15.45 billion to USD 17.15 billion and operating results ranging from a loss of USD 100 million to a profit of USD 275 million.

Wall Street was looking for third quarter revenue of USD 17 billion and operating profit of USD 390 million.