Earnings Preview: Amazon.com

Leading e-commerce company Amazon.com

is set to release its fiscal first-quarter earnings results on Thursday after the closing bell. Going into the print, Wall Street analysts have consensus EPS estimates of $0.07. The high estimate for the company is $0.25 with a low estimate of ($0.16). In the year ago quarter, AMZN reported EPS of $0.44. Judging from estimates taken from Estimize.com, traders are looking for upside to Street consensus with users projecting that AMZN will report first quarter EPS of $0.12, or a nickel above the Street. Estimize is a unique new tool which allows traders and investors to get a better idea of what the "whisper number," or real earnings expectations are for a company. The site does this by aggregating estimates from its users and generating a consensus EPS estimate based on this data. Frequently, the "whisper number" is a better gauge of likely sentiment after the earnings numbers are released compared to Wall Street estimates which have a tendency to be on the conservative side. It is not uncommon to see a stock trade off sharply despite beating Street estimates if the numbers come up short of the whisper estimates. Over the last 3 months, EPS estimates for AMZN have moved sharply lower from $0.36 to the current consensus of $0.07. During this time period, shares have risen 1.41%, underperforming the broader market. On the revenue front, Wall Street analysts have consensus estimates of $12.86 billion. The high estimate is $13.35 billion with a low estimate of $12.17 billion. This compares to year ago sales of $9.86 billion, implying year over year sales growth of 30.50%. Users at Estimize.com have provided estimates in a range between $12.05 billion on the low end and $13.85 billion on the high end. On Tuesday, AMZN shares have gained 0.64% to $189.85 as traders and investors position themselves ahead of Thursday's key report.