Amazon shocked the tech world when it reported a second quarter (Q2) profit on July 23, Thursday causing Wall Street investors to push its stock prices up 17 percent. It was a birthday present for the struggling company that celebrated its 20 anniversary on July 16, and if the surge holds during Friday's trading, Amazon's market value could surge past rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc., signaling a major milestone in United States retail.
Amazon earned $92 million profit during Q2, or around 19 cents per share, according to Wired. These impressive figures followed analysts' projections of a loss of 14 cents per share.
It revealed that the quarterly profits were due to its cloud-computing services and high revenue in the U.S. and internationally. In terms of spending it has minimized marketing and package delivery costs.
In the past Amazon has reinvested earned income in the company. The results were slim profits or quarterly losses.
Its surging revenue has been on and off each quarter. However, the company has been in the black more often in recent quarters.
Amazon's Web Services, which includes various cloud services and products, garnered a big boost in revenue, skyrocketing 81 percent to $182 billion. It allows remote access to Web applications.
Another growth driver was the "Prime" loyalty program. While experts estimate the number of members of the $499-per-year program to be up to 40 million, the company has released no official numbers, according to The New York Times.
Amazon's closing price on Thursday was around $22.5 billion. However, after the surge aftermarket has been factored in, the actual value is around $265 billion.
Wal-Mart's market value is $233 billion. However, it is still the largest global retailer in terms of total revenue.
Facebook zoomed past the retail king in June. It knocked it out of Standard & Poor's top 10 highest-valued companies.