Amazon Tops Estimates (Update)

Updated from 05:05 p.m. EDT

SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon(AMZN Quote) sailed past analysts' estimates for the second quarter as profit more than doubled on strong sales of its media and electronics merchandise.

The Seattle-based online retailer posted a profit of $158 million in the second quarter, or 37 cents a share, up 102% from $78 million, or 19 cents a share, a year ago.

Analysts were expecting the company to earn 26 cents a share.

The company's profit included a noncash gain of $53 million recognized on the sale of its European DVD rental assets.

Revenue rose 41% to $4.06 billion in the second quarter, compared with $2.89 billion a year ago and was higher than analysts' expectations of $3.95 billion. Excluding the favorable impact from changes in foreign-exchange rates throughout the quarter, sales grew 35% from a year ago.

Worldwide active seller accounts, which refers to the number of independent sellers on the site, were up 18% to more than 1.4 million, said Amazon. That compares to an increase of 11% a year ago.

"We've had several quarters where we've seen accelerated growth of active seller accounts," said company founder and CEO Jeff Bezos on the conference call with analysts. "We think that the business looks good but it's not really impacting the guidance as we think about it."

Seller units were 29% of the total units in the store and remained unchanged from the year before.

Shares of Amazon were up more than 8% to $76.41 in recent extended trading.