Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock gained ground in Wednesday's trading. The company's share price ended the daily session up 2.3%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Amazon published its first-quarter results after the market closed yesterday, reporting sales and earnings for the period that beat the average analyst estimate. The e-commerce and cloud-computing giant reported earnings per share of $0.98 on sales of $143.3 billion. For comparison, the average analyst estimate had called for the business to post per-share earnings of $0.83 on revenue of $142.55 billion.

Amazon's growth drivers look strong

Amazon's revenue climbed 12.5% year over year in the first quarter. The company's North America segment saw an increase of 12% year over year to reach $86.3 billion. Meanwhile, sales for Amazon Web Services (AWS) rose 25% year over year to $25 billion, and international segment sales increased 10% year over year to hit $31.9 billion.

Following the strong Q1 sales and earnings beats, Amazon stock rose as much as 5.8% in the daily trading session. But the tech giant's share price lost some ground as investors weighed the company's forward guidance.

Amazon stock still looks like a long-term winner

For the second quarter, Amazon is guiding for sales to come in between $144 billion and $149 billion, suggesting growth of roughly 9% at the midpoint of the target. However, the guidance fell short of the average Wall Street analyst estimate's call for revenue of $150.09 billion in the period.

On the other hand, Amazon does anticipate a substantial improvement for Q2 operating income. The company is guiding for operating income to come in between $10 billion and $14 billion, improving dramatically from the $7.7 billion in operating income that it recorded in last year's quarter.

With artificial intelligence powering strong demand for AWS and opening the doors for dramatic efficiency improvements for the company's e-commerce business, Amazon stock looks like a smart buy on the heels of its first-quarter report. Even if second-quarter sales guidance fell short of Wall Street's target, the tech leader's long-term prospects remain very promising.

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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Why Amazon Stock Jumped Today was originally published by The Motley Fool