Amazon.com Inc. announced on Wednesday that its net profit for the fourth quarter reached the 207 million, or 48 cents a share, more than double from the company’s last fourth quarter when it reported $98 million, or 23 cents a share. The American e-commerce  company based in Seattle, Washington recorder sales of $5.67 billion, up 42 percent from $3.99 billion in the same period of last year.

However, although the company’s fourth quarter was much better than expected, Wall Street reacted negatively due to sliding slightly profit margins.

“This quarter showed accelerated sales growth and record operating profits. In our view, these unusual financial results are driven by one thing: continuously improving the customer experience,” said Amazon’s chief executive Jeff Bezos.

Despite the fact that the reports were higher than 48 cents a share on revenue of $5.37 billion as analysts predicted, the company’s shares dropped 11 percent in after-hours trading due to weaker profit margins. The firm’s gross margin dropped in the fourth quarter to 20.6 percent from 21.3 percent, a year earlier, as Amazon invested in new technology.

Amazon, one of the first major companies to sell goods over the Internet, saw its shares climb 26 cents to $74.21 before announcing its latest financial results.

The company estimated its sales over this quarter will be somewhere between $3.95 billion and $4.15 billion, an increase of between 31 percent and 38 percent from the same period of the last fiscal year. The company added in its fiscal results related statement that operating income is expected to grow approximately 38 percent in the current quarter. Sales for the entire fiscal year are expected to grow between 26 percent and 33 percent over 2007.

Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, and launched in 1995. it began as an online bookstore but soon extended its product lines by adding VHSs, DVDs, music CDs, MP3s, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and more. The company has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, China, and Japan.