Disproving reports that its growth days are behind it, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today reported quarterly results that far exceeded Wall Street estimates.

Net income at the No.1 e-tailer more than doubled to $158 million, or 37 cents a share, up from $78 million or 19 cents per share. Revenue jumped 41% to $4.06 billion. The New York Times noted that analysts had expected a 26 cent profit on sales of $3.96 billion. The results, though, were not good enough for Wall Street, and investors sent Amazon's shares tumbling in after-hours trading.

One reason for the thumbs down may be that the company's gross margins -- always a concern with investors -- contracted slightly. The company also maintained its revenue forecast for the current period. Maybe investors were expecting the company to boost earnings guidance as it benefits from shoppers bypassing malls and spending on gasoline in favor of shopping at home.

Skeptics, including me, have underestimated the company. Soleil Securities analyst Scott Tilghman told Bloomberg News that "There's a misperception out there that e-commerce is much more mature than it actually is. They (Amazon) offer one-stop shopping and often better prices than bricks-and-mortar stores, which should offset any slowdown in consumer spending."

Looks like he may have a point.

[July 24 UPDATE: Amazon shares soar after Chief Executive Jeff Bezos' bullish comments. The shares were little changed at first until Bezos said on the earnings conference call that the company was benefiting from consumers avoiding driving to brick-and-mortar stores because of concerns about high gas prices. Shares are up over 15% by early afternoon Thursday.]

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today posted a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter and gave bullish guidance for sales. However, the company's forecast for full-year operating income of $785 million and $985 million, below the Bloomberg forecast of $1.18 billion. Shares of the largest Internet retailer, which doubled last year, soared fell in after-hours trading.

Net income increased 112% to $207 million, or 48 cents per share, compared with $98 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 42% to $5.67 billion in the fourth quarter, helped by strong growth outside the U.S. Analysts had expected profit of 48 cents on revenue of $5.37 billion.

"In our view, these unusual financial results are driven by one thing: continuously improving the customer experience," said Chief Executive Jeff Bezos in the earnings release.

The Seattle-based company issued guidance for revenue in the first quarter of between $3.95 billion and $4.15 billion with operating income of between $155 million to $200 million. For the year, Amazon expects sales of $18.75 billion to $19.75 billion with operating income of $785 million to $985 million. Analysts are expecting quarterly sales of $3.92 billion and $14.52 billion for the year.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares are surging today ahead of this evening's Q3 earnings report. We have recently seen some positive earnings reports from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and AT&T (NYSE: T) that are getting investors excited for Amazon's numbers. Wall Street analysts expect earnings of 18 cents per share tonight from AMZN. The company earned 19 cents per share in the previous quarter, and five cents per share in the year-ago quarter. AMZN has beaten EPS estimates each of the last four quarters. If you think that the company won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on AMZN.

Shares have been rising steadily over the past six months, hitting a 52-week high of $96.73 earlier this month. AMZN opened this morning at $95.28. So far today, the stock has hit a low of $94.21 and a high of $95.44. As of 11:45, AMZN is trading at $94.83, up $3.54 (3.88%). The chart for AMZN looks bullish but deteriorating slightly, while S&P gives the stock a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a January bull-put credit spread below the $60 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 5.3% return in just 3 months as long as AMZN is above $60 at January expiration. Amazon would have to fall by more than 36% before we would start to lose money.

AMZN hasn't been below $60 since April, and has shown support around $90 recently. This trade could be risky if this evening's earnings disappoint, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by recent support between $65 and $75, plus the stock's 200-day moving average, which is currently at $62 and rising.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.
DISCLOSURE: At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in AMZN.

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eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: eBAY) proved again in the first quarter that it's far from death's door. The company reported strong first quarter earnings. Here is a rundown of the conference call. All times are in eastern.

5 p.m. Usual disclosures.

Meg Whitman. The first quarter was a very strong one for the company. Great results across the board., net revenue of $1.7 bln. Top line org growth of 27 percent, expanded operating margins.

Marketplaces business. delivered revenus of 1.25 bln. Payment volumen on paypal rose 30 percent. number of accounts incresaed to more than 143 bln. Merchant services also grew. Skype performed very well, first quarter of profitability. "Optimistic" about the potential of business.

Marketplaces..eBay sites are pefroming, This is putting some pressure on listings and GMV gorwth. (fee hikes).eBay is "agressively" taregeting bad guys. Continue to improve user experience on sites. I'm confident that we've identified the areas we need to focus on to reaccelerate growth rates in the U.,S, and Germany.

Pleased with korea, Stub Hub acquisition. Shopping.com. 29 percent y/y growth, traffic is . Our partnerships with Yahoo and Google are performing well. Outside of US., international ad partnership with Google is on track.

PayPAl had another excellent quarter, 31 percent revenue growth more than 11 bln in volume. Pay Pal has 35 mln accounts in Europe, extremely popular in Germany.

Merchant services is doing well. (My wife uses it for her small business). PayPal continues to grow very nicely. incredibly pleased with the direction and trajectory. Skype is doing well. It is quite early in the life cycle of new products. Now can payments via Skype.For the next several qutres, skype will expand user base and enhance call quality. The compelling combination of our three business. EACh of the business units is making progress in achieving objectives.I am enormously excited and confident about our future

The one thing that I find most infuriating about Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is how the company's executives can look people in the eye and deny the obvious.

Take the recent announcement about its plans to sell a suite of software to business customers. Doesn't that encroach on the turf of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT). Chief Executive Eric Schmidt artfully ducked that question when it was posed by the Associated Press. We don't operate that way," he said. "We are trying to solve very different problems."

No one believed it when he said the same thing about eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) when Google Checkout was released. Google would probably answer the question the same way if the AP asked about what threat the bundle may pose to International Business Machine Corp.'s (NYSE:IBM) Lotus unit.

There is some truth to the statement, however, Google's software bundle, which sells for $50 a year, has nowhere near the functionality of Microsoft Office. The same holds true for Google Checkout when compared with eBay's PayPal. Google's offerings though are designed to be used instead of something else, so any talk that the company isn't in competition is laughable.

But before people start pontificating about the threat Google poses to Microsoft, a reality check is in order. Google's product development outside of search hasn't been that impressive. .

Schmidt told the AP that search engine giant priced the software so cheaply to tempt companies to give it a shot. Software doesn't sell based on price alone. Large enterprises demand bang for their buck with functionality and tech support.

Chief information officers know that you get what you pay for from tech companies. Plus, many are reluctant to allow employees to use web-based applications for security reasons.

The companies referenced In Google's announcement got something in return from the search engine giant like free service or keyword advertising. Investors should never take the statements from customers in product announcements seriously.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) got some help from Santa Claus this year.

Fourth quarter net income was $98 million in the fourth quarter, or 23 cents per share, compared with $199 million, or 47 cents, because of an increase in income tax expenses. Revenue rose 34 percent to $3.99 billion, the Seattle-based company said in a statement.

Analysts had expected earnings of 21 cents on sales of $3.77 billion, according to Thomson Financial. Sales rose in after-hours trading. It also gave bullish guidance.

The company said first quarter sales will be between $2.85 billion to $3 billion, below the $3.77 billion analysts had anticipated. Revenue for the year will be $13 billion to $13.7 billion, above the $10.5 billion forecast by Wall Street.

Amazon's results were surprising considering the poor performance at Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE:BKS) and Borders Group Inc. (NYSE:BGP). The company credited Amazon Prime, a program which allows customers to get free two-day shipping for a yearly fee of $75, for helping to drive sales.

Bloomberg News reported that U.S. holiday shoppers spent more money online at Seattle-based Amazon than other retailers, citing data from comScore Networks.

Still, this stock makes investors uneasy. The company has spent lots of money on new initiatives such as Amazon Unbox, an online video download service. Plus, the company has some pretty tough competitors for price-conscious consumers.

That had an impact in the quarter as the company offered deals to help move more digital equipment and popular toys. Gross margins -- always a worry for analysts -- fell to 21.3 percent from 24 percent a year earlier.

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know what you're expecting.