(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)

Late on Thursday, online retailer Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced that fourth quarter net income rose to $225 million, or 52 cents a share, compared to earnings of $207 million, or 48 cents a share in the corresponding quarter, a year ago. Quarterly revenue increased 18% to $6.7 billion from the same period, a year ago. Analysts' estimates were for earnings of 40 cents a share on revenue of $6.48 billion. However, gross profit margin fell to 20.1% from 20.6% in the year ago quarter.   CEO and founder Jeff Bezos said in a statement “We remain relentlessly focused on serving customers with low prices, great selection and free shipping offers, including Amazon Prime. We’re particularly grateful for the unusually strong demand for Kindle in the fourth quarter.” Looking ahead, for the first-quarter the company expects to report operating earnings in the range of $125.0 million and $210.0 million and revenue in the range of $4.5 billion and $4.9 billion. Analysts currently expect the company to post operating income of $175.0 million and revenue of $4.6 billion. Amazon rose over 2% in extended trading on Thursday.

CA Inc. (NASDAQ: CA) said that its third-quarter net income rose to $213 million or 40 cents from $163 million or 31 cents in the third quarter a year ago.  On an adjusted basis, the company earned 43 cents a share. Revenue fell to $1.04 billion from $1.1 billion. Consensus expectations were for earnings of 37 cents a share on revenue of $1.07 billion. Shares of the company were up 4.39% in post market trading. Chubb Corp.(NYSE: CB) reported that fourth-quarter net income slipped 37% to $407 million, or $1.13 a share from $650 million, or $1.68 a share in year ago quarter. Operating income dropped to $569 million or $1.58 a share, from $620 million, or $1.60 a share in the comparable quarter in 2007. Analyst on average expected the company to report earnings of $1.52 a share. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer stated "Net written premiums for the third quarter of 2008 was $2.0 billion, the third-highest achieved in any year in the corporation's history, thanks to significant contributions from all three business units. This result was achieved in the face of high catastrophe losses for the year, deepening distress in many sectors of the global economy as well as declining insurance rates for the past four years." Chubb Corp. added over 3% after-hours trading.

Columbia Sportswear Co (NASDAQ: COLM) reported that fourth quarter net income nearly halved to $18.6 million, or 55 cents a share, down from $45.7 million, or $1.26 cents a share in the fourth quarter of 2007. Sales decreased 6% to $354.9 million from $376.7 million. The company expects first-quarter earnings in the range of 4 cents to 8 cents per share.