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The largest Internet retailer reported a jump in quarterly revenue on sales of its Kindle electronic reader and other electronics and forecast better-than-expected revenue for the current quarter, sending its shares up more than 6 percent late on Tuesday.

Amazon benefited from growth in e-commerce, though margins continued to be pressured by heavy spending on distribution, technology and digital content.

The company is investing to build warehouses and distribution to support rapidly growing e-commerce, its main business.

It's also spending heavily on servers and data centers for its cloud computing business Amazon Web Services, while buying more digital content to bolster media offerings, such as streaming video.

This spending has dented profit margins in recent quarters. Analysts and investors are mostly happy to see such investment by the company -- as long as it winds down at some point and lays the foundation for future profit increases.

"They're sacrificing near-term profitability for longer-term revenue growth," said Michael Souers, specialty retail analyst at S&P Equity Research. "As long as they are able to transform growth into profits in the future, investors will be satisfied. The chances are strong."

Amazon on Tuesday reported a 51 percent rise in second-quarter revenue to $9.91 billion, surpassing Wall Street's expectations for $9.4 billion.

The company forecast third-quarter sales of $10.3 billion to $11.1 billion, compared with the average forecast for $10.35 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Second-quarter net income fell to $191 million, or 41 cents per share, from $207 million, or 45 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Analysts expected 35 cents per share for the latest second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The operating profit margin fell to 2.0 percent from 4.1 percent a year earlier.

Operating income is expected to be between $20 million and $170 million in the third quarter, the company estimated. The guidance includes about $180 million of stock-based compensation expense and amortization of intangible assets. It also assumes no other acquisitions or investments will close in the quarter.

That forecast suggests Amazon's third-quarter pro-forma operating margin will be 1.8 percent to 3.2 percent, according to Aaron Kessler, an analyst at ThinkEquity. That's below his previous estimate.

"Amazon's willing to give up short-term profits for long-term growth and more market share," Kessler told Reuters. "But ultimately they are managing the business for shareholders. We're expecting modest margin expansion next year. Investors would like to see some return on these investments starting next year."

The company is expected to introduce a tablet computer later this year that would compete with Apple Inc's iPad.

Souers reckons thin third-quarter margins suggest Amazon is spending heavily on this new tablet.

"Longer term this is the best move they can make. The world is shifting toward digital from physical media and a tablet will help them cement a position in streaming content like movies and music," the analyst said.

Amazon Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak declined to comment on whether the company was working on a new tablet computer. However, he pledged to keep spending and investing to support growth and new businesses.

Amazon said it spent $941 million on so-called "fulfillment centers" -- warehouses or logistics centers -- in the second quarter, compared to $582 million a year earlier. Technology and content costs totaled $698 million in the latest period, versus $408 million in the same period of 2010.

"We're investing in the conversion from physical to digital and we feel very good about the traction we're getting there," he said.

Szkutak also stressed that the company is focused on cash flow and high returns on investment, rather than profit margins.

Amazon's main online retail business is growing so fast that the company needs to spend on a lot of new distribution capacity, he explained during a conference call with analysts.

Amazon has announced 15 new fulfillment centers so far in 2011 and the company will unveil more before the end of this year, he noted.

Amazon Web Services -- which hosts computing for corporate clients over the Internet -- accounts for a "big piece" of Amazon's current and future spending, because it's growing so fast, the CFO added.

Amazon shares, which have risen about 18 percent since the start of 2011, gained 6.1 percent to $227.35 in after-hours trade.

The company said sales in Worldwide Electronics and Other General Merchandise, which includes the Kindle e-reader, computers, cameras and other consumer electronics, jumped 69 percent to $5.89 billion in the second quarter.

Excluding currency fluctuations, sales rose 62 percent.

"That's very strong," said Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, a software provider that helps retailers sell more online through channels including Amazon and eBay Inc.

"E-commerce in general is growing at 10 percent to 14 percent, so Amazon continues to gobble up market share." Wingo owns Amazon shares, and eBay is an investor in ChannelAdvisor.

At some point, such growth will taper off and this is when Amazon will be able to cut back on spending and increase profitability, S&P's Souers said. He's expecting margins to increase "significantly" in coming years.

(Writing by Brad Dorfman; Additional reporting by Eunju Lie in Chicago and Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Bernard Orr, Phil Berlowitz)

The largest Internet retailer benefited from growth in e-commerce, though margins continued to be pressured by heavy spending on distribution, technology and digital content.

But the market reaction focused more on sales growth than profits.

"If you look at top-line growth it was extremely strong," Dan Geiman, analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen, said. "At this point it's a question of how long the company is going to continue to invest at their current levels. Presuming these investments don't go on forever, earnings should grow going forward."

The world's largest web retailer reported a 51 percent climb in revenue to $9.91 billion, surpassing Wall Street's expectations for $9.4 billion.

Operating margin fell to 2.0 percent from 4.1 percent a year earlier.

Amazon forecast third-quarter sales of $10.3 billion to $11.1 billion, compared with the average forecast for $10.35 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company, which have risen about 18 percent since the start of 2011, gained 6.3 percent to $227.57 in after-hours trade.

Second-quarter net income came in at $191 million, or 41 cents per share, versus $207 million, or 45 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Analysts expected 35 cents per share for the latest second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Writing by Brad Dorfman, editing by Bernard Orr)

A small majority of economists -- 30 out of 53 -- surveyed over the past two days said the United States will lose its AAA credit rating from one of the three big ratings agencies -- Standard & Poor's, Moody's or Fitch.

Respondents saw a 20 percent chance of a new recession over the next year, a prospect that some economists say has been compounded by the acrimonious political fight over what is normally a procedural legislative vote on the debt.

Lawmakers have one week left to hash out a deficit-cutting plan without which Republicans in Congress have said they will not raise the legal $14.3 trillion debt limit, risking a potentially devastating government debt default in August.

"We believe that Congress will act with an 11th hour deal to raise the debt ceiling. However, the risk of that deal failing increases with each passing day," said Guy LeBas, director at Janney Capital Markets.

"I would say that the chance of a U.S. ratings downgrade is now more likely than not."

Economists still see the probability of an outright default on U.S. Treasury bonds as remote -- 5 percent on median. link.reuters.com/nyc82s

Downgrade and default would have vastly different consequences. A ratings cut might raise the risk of recession by hurting confidence, but might allow financial markets to muddle through the next few months without incident. A default, however, would send shockwaves through the global financial system that could kick-start a new financial crisis, analysts say.

Even if this worst-case scenario is not borne out, a firm majority of respondents -- 38 out of 54 -- said the uncertainty brought about by the political acrimony over the debt has already hurt economic growth.

The U.S. economy had already been under stress in recent months. Gross domestic product expanded just 1.9 percent in the first three months of the year, and the second quarter is not expected to have fared much better. Industrial production has slowed and employment nearly ground to a halt in the last two months. The jobless rate climbed to 9.2 percent in June.

"This whole debt ceiling debate doesn't seem to be making anyone any more confident," said Sean Incremona, economist at 4Cast Ltd. in New York.

Goldman Sachs argued in a research note recently that the decline in consumer sentiment over the last few months has been disproportionate to the economy's slowdown, pegging the debt battle as a culprit.

The government's first reading on GDP in the second quarter will be released on Friday.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, Polling by Bangalore Polling Unit; Editing by Ruth Pitchford, Leslie Adler, Chizu Nomiyama and Dan Grebler)

* Stocks dipped in the previous session as lawmakers remained deadlocked over a deal to raise the government's debt ceiling to avoid default. But investors were hopeful a compromise could be reached before the August 2 deadline.

* President Barack Obama took to the airwaves last night to rally public support for a package proposed by Democrats, warned that failure to make a deal would severely hurt the nation.

* Ford Motor Co (F.N) shares were up 3.1 percent at $13.50 in premarket trade after the automaker's second-quarter earnings beat expectations. Revenues were also ahead of Wall Street's forecast.

* Other major companies due to announce results include Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Cummins Inc (CMI.N), 3M Co (MMM.N) and Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O).

* S&P 500 futures rose 2.8 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures gained 26 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 3.75 points.

* The May Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index will be released at 9 a.m. EDT. Economists in a Reuters survey expected the index to be unchanged versus a 0.1 percent drop in April.

* At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Conference Board reports on July consumer confidence. Economists expect a reading of 56.0, compared with 58.5 in June.

* Also coming at 10 a.m., the Commerce Department releases new home sales for June. Economists forecast a total of 320,000 annualized units, compared with 319,000 in May.

* Resource-related stocks will be in focus as copper prices rose for the first time in five sessions on a weaker dollar. Other key base metals also advanced.

* U.S. specialty finance company Orchid Island Capital Inc postponed its initial public offering due to market conditions.

* European shares .FTEU3 were slightly down, while Japan's Nikkei average .N225 closed up 0.5 percent.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

In North America, Ford's pre-tax profit rose 0.5 percent to $1.91 billion.

North America was the only global region where the company's profit improved. In Europe, where Ford's performance has been lagging in recent quarters, its pre-tax profit was trimmed nearly in half to $176 million.

Ford shares rose 2.3 percent in early trading on Tuesday at $13.47 per share.

The company did not alter its North American production outlook or its 2011 U.S. auto sales forecast.

Excluding one-time items, Ford's quarterly profit fell to 65 cents per share from 68 cents a year ago.

Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 60 cents per share excluding one-time items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 13 percent to $35.5 billion.

Net income fell to $2.4 billion in the quarter, or 59 cents per share, from $2.6 billion, or 61 cents per share.

Ford has posted eight straight quarterly net profits after recording net losses totaling $30 billion from 2006 through 2008 when it cut jobs, sold unprofitable brands and reshaped a lineup laden with large SUVs and pickup trucks.

(Additional reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Derek Caney)