...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) July 27, 2018--S&P Global Ratings said today that its rating and outlook on Amazon.com Inc. (##-/Stable/A-1+) are unaffected by Amazon's second-quarter 2018 results. Revenue growth continues to be strong at 37% overall (excluding foreign exchange rate impacts), with robust performance in all segments, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) growth of 49%, closely followed by North American revenue growth of 44%. Second-quarter results are consistent with our view for leverage to decline to the mid-to-low 1x area at fiscal year-end 2018--second-half performance, acquisitions, and investment levels being the main drivers of the year-end 2018 leverage level. Operating margins at the North America segment (which consists primarily of retail sales) exceeded our expectations, posting an impressive 321% year-over-year increase in operating income and 380 basis point increase in overall margin for the segment. In particular, we note that shipping cost growth in the quarter...
