Amazon shares stumble as guidance for Q1 lower than expected

Ecommerce giant Amazon reported its fourth quarter results on Thursday after the close of US markets, posting mixed results for the period and a disappointing guidance for the upcoming quarter.

The Seattle-based company was 4% lower in after-hours trading following the release of its financial results.

Amazon fell short on its revenue expectations, bringing in $43.74bn, having been estimated to reach $44.68bn for the final quarter of the year. Earnings per share easily beat the Wall Street consensus on Thursday, however, as the company made $1.54 on each share, compared with $1.35 expected by analysts.

Both revenue and earnings per share were higher than the same quarter in 2015 however, when it had EPS of $1 with $35.75bn in revenue.

Jeff Bezos' company saw a record-breaking 2016 in which it continued to grow at the expense of traditional retailers, particularly through its ever-expanding Prime service.

However Amazon's forecast for the first quarter of 2017 was lower than what was originally expected. It said that the forecast for Q1 2017 would be between $33.25bn and $35.75bn, falling short of previous expectations of $35.95bn.

In the press release accompanying the results, founder and CEO Bezos pointed towards Prime as the main driver of the company.

"Our Prime team's customer obsession kept them busy in 2016," said Bezos. "Prime members can now choose from over 50 million items with free two-day shipping — up 73% since 2015. Prime Video is now available in more than 200 countries and territories. Prime Now added 18 new cities, which means millions more members now get one and two hour delivery."