Amazon's Surprise Statement Yields a Weak Sales Figure

In a surprise sneak peek at its fourth quarter results, e-tail giant Amazon.com (AMZN Quote) indicated Monday that its sales during the holiday period fell short of Wall Street's estimates.

Despite this, analysts were generally pleased with the preliminary data, as crucial inventory and profit-margin figures were positive.

The Seattle-based company said it expects to report fourth-quarter sales that exceed $960 million, within the range the company previously said it would report. But the number is less than the First Call/Thomson Financial consensus estimate of slightly more than $1 billion. ...