Amazon Turns a Financial Report Into a Marketing Event

Big technology companies had a wonderful romp in after-hours trading. Following Thursday’s third-quarter earnings, most of the big names were up. Microsoft Corp. jumped as much as 4.6 percent; Alphabet Inc. was up around 3 percent. And Twitter Inc., a decidedly smaller name, reported before the market opened and ended the day with a 19 percent gain.

But Amazon.com Inc.’s success was the most fun to watch. The Everything Store got a 7.7 percent bounce in late trading after it revealed net income of $256 million. That’s nothing! But for Amazon, it’s an unexpected, humongous pile of cash. Teach investors to expect losses, and they’ll freak out when you turn a small profit. Revenue growth, of course, is what’s driving Amazon’s soaring stock price. Net revenue reached $43.7 billion, up 34 percent from a year ago.