Amazon plays the Grinch in Wall Street's Christmas

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc.boosted its earnings by almost 50 per cent in the third quarter, the company said Wednesday.

But its soggyrevenue forecast for the next three months will likely disappoint analysts, who could interpretthe company's weaker sales prediction as a forecast for the entire retail sector.

Amazon, which sells various products on the internet, made $118 million US for the three months ended Sept. 30, whichtranslated into a gain of 28 cents a share.For the same period lastyear, the company earned $88 million, or 19 cents a share.

Revenue for the third quartertopped out at $4.26 billion, up substantially comparedwith the$3.26 billion in sales Amazon posted in the same quarter last year.

"We remain relentlessly focused on delivering value to customers through lower prices, improved selection and our free shipping offers, including Amazon Prime," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and chief executive officer.

Wall Street was expecting Amazon to postsales of $4.28 billion in the most recent period.

Looking into the all-vital Christmas season, however, Amazon said the firm now expects sales torange between $6 billion and $7 billion.

Company watchers were forecasting $7 billion in sales, now unlikely to be realized given the weakening economy.

Last week eBay Inc., the online auction seller, posted higher earnings, but also produced an outlook that disappointed investors, as both the earnings and revenue lines were less than had been expected.

Shares of Amazon have dropped 46 per cent since January. EBay's stock has fallen by more than one-third since last week.