Amazon Schools Bears Anew

In addition, the company's third-quarter sales expectations set a midpoint above the current analysts' consensus.

Importantly, Amazon's operating profit of $104 million was 6% of revenue, an increase above its first-quarter operating margin of 5.7%. Analysts had been bracing for another quarter of deteriorating profit margins from Amazon, which have been a sore point with investors. Operating margins were still down from the year-ago figure of 6.2%.

Revenue rose 26% to $1.75 billion from $1.39 billion a year ago, also in line with analyst estimates. Excluding a $25 million benefit from foreign-exchange rates, revenue gained 25% on the year.

Analysts had been expecting a profit of 10 cents a share on a pro forma basis, and revenue of $1.73 billion.

Despite the surprising strength of Amazon's report, some analysts on the earnings call were sniffing around for signs that it may have been a fluke. Some of them repeatedly sounded out Bezos and CFO Tom Szkutak on whether the demand for advance orders of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince drove a huge amount of Potter fans to the site, who did some extra shopping while ordering the new book.

Szkutak downplayed such concerns, noting that Pottermania added less than a percentage point to the 25% revenue growth in the quarter.

Instead, much of the strength in Amazon's revenue and operating profit came from non-U.S. markets. International revenue grew 50% to $793 million, a marked increase over the 33% growth rate last year. By contrast, U.S. revenue grew 13% to $960 million, much slower than the 21% growth rate of a year ago.

International operating profit surged 177% to $60 million, while the operating profit of the U.S. business grew 21%. Both profit-growth rates are substantially higher than they were a year ago (and higher than revenue growth rates), suggesting Amazon is having some success in creating a more efficient business.