Amazon swings to quarterly profit as North America sales grow

A just-delivered Amazon box is seen on a counter in Golden, Colorado August 27, 2014.

/Rick Wilking

E-commerce company Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) swung to a quarterly profit, helped by higher sales in North America and growth in its web services business, sending its shares up 17.5 percent in extended trading.Amazon also forecast third-quarter revenue above estimates.Sales in North America, its biggest market, rose 25.5 percent to $13.8 billion in the second quarter from a year earlier, helped by strong demand for electronics and general merchandise.Cloud-computing revenue soared 81.5 percent to $1.82 billion, accounting for nearly 8 percent of second-quarter revenue, the company said on Thursday.The company forecast net sales to grow 13-24 percent to $23.3 billion-$25.5 billion in the third quarter, well above the average analyst of $23.89 billion, according to Thomson I/B/E/S. Amazon estimated an operating loss of $480 million to an operating income of $70 million for the third quarter.Amazon reported a profit of $92 million, or 19 cents per share, for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with a loss of $126 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 19.9 percent to $23.19 billion.Analysts on average had expected a loss of 14 cents per share and revenue of $22.39 billion. Amazon's shares were trading at $566.56 after the bell. The stock closed at $482.18. (Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru and Mari Saito in San Francisco; Editing by Simon Jennings)