Amazon.com: Forget Being Earth's Superstore. Can It Turn a Profit?

When is $1 billion in quarterly online sales just not good enough? When you're Amazon.com(AMZN Quote), and you spend more than that in the same time frame.

The Amazon File

Business: Online retailer

1999 Revenue: $1.6 billion

1999 Earnings Per Share: ($2.20)

2000 Estimated Revenue Growth: 103%

2000 Estimated EPS: ($1.21)

Stock Snapshot

Share Price: $22.69 at Thursday's close

52 Week Range: $101.63-$19.38

Percentage Change from Jan. 1: -70%

Shares Outstanding: 356.17 million

Source: Thomson Financial/Baseline, BulldogResearch, Morningstar.

Amazon hopes to achieve the ambitious goal of grabbing 10% of the $10 billion expected in U.S. online sales this holiday season. But the Web superstore, which has racked up $866 million in losses for the first nine months of this year, expects to post a fourth-quarter loss of 26 cents a share, thanks in part to gargantuan marketing costs and discounting efforts. Meanwhile, the stock has lost about two-thirds of its value this year, closing Thursday at $22.69. Is Amazon.com's stock a bigger bargain than the books it's peddling at discount prices this Christmas? Or does it have further to fall if losses continue and the markets perceive the e-tailing giant as a boring old retailer akin to Wal-Mart(WMT Quote)? ...