Wall Street asks the hard questions

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Apr 25 09:51:32 PDT 2000


[From an article in TheStreet.com about Amazon.com. Aspiring to the negative single digits!]

"We want to understand the mechanics of profitability," says Sara Farley, an analyst with PaineWebber who rates Amazon shares neutral. (Her firm hasn't done banking for Amazon.) Farley and other analysts want a road map and more information on the performance of different product lines. When will gross margins improve, and by how much? When will operating margins, which last year were -22%, move into the negative single digits? When will elusive profits materialize? Farley says she expects at least some guidance about the things that will push the company towards profits, and that increased openness may smooth out some of the volatility surrounding the stock.



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