Amazon's Revenue Increases While Profits Dip

Amazon (AMZN) puts out two sets of numbers in its quarterly financial reports that consistently generate awe and indignation. The first: a soaring revenue number. The second: a tiny profit or-more often in recent years-a loss.

The past quarter was no different. Amazon showed nice sales growth in Thursday's earnings report, bringing in $19.34 billion-23 percent more than it did a year ago, and slightly better than analyst's expectations. It's also a bit better than Google, (GOOG) which grew 22 percent last quarter, and way better than EBay's (EBAY) 13 percent revenue growth.