Amazon is on Fire as sales jump 34% but profit falls by a massive 35%.

Click to enlarge

The e-tailer said net sales increased a massive 34% to $13.18 bn in the first quarter 2012, compared with $9.86 bn the same time last year.

Operating income also fell to $192m in Q1, from $322 m in first quarter 2011, which Amazon attributed, in part, to unfavorable changes in foreign exchange rates.

However, the huge sales hike didn’t translate into a rise in net profit which slumped 35% to $130m due to heavy spending and investment on development of its digital offerings.

The popular e-tailer is said to be eying Australia as a potential Asia Pacific distribution base and scouring the east coast for a suitable site, according to recent reports.

And free cash flow also fell 39% to $1.15 bn for the trailing twelve months. In spite of the significant sales drop, Amazon listed its achievements saying the “Kindle Fire remains the #1 bestselling, most gifted, product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since launch.”

“I’m excited to announce that we now have more than 130,000 new, in-copyright books that are exclusive to the Kindle Store – you won’t find them anywhere else,” said Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com.

“They include many of our top bestsellers – in fact, 16 of our top 100 bestselling titles are exclusive to our store.”

In the first quarter, 9 out of 10 of the top sellers on Amazon.com were digital products – Kindle, Kindle books, movies, music and apps.

In-App Purchasing service, Amazon’s Instant Video app for PlayStation 3 (PS3) and its expanded catalog of title offerings for Prime Instant Video were also cited in a statement.

Amazon predict sales are to rise by a whopping 20%-34% in Q2  (Or $11.9 bn and $13.3 bn).

However, the Intenet stalwart has forecast an operating loss operating income (loss) in the region of 229% – 80% translating to income drop of anywhere between $260 m and $40 m.

This guidance figure includes $260 m for stock-based compensation and amortization of  assets, and assumes no additional business acquisitions or investments are concluded or no revisions to stock-based compensation estimates, it said in a statement.

During the quarter, the e-tailer repurchased 5.3 million shares worth $960 million under its previously announced repurchase of up to $2 billion of common stock.