Stocks to Watch: Amazon, Starbucks, Chevron

NEW YORK -- Amazon , the online retail giant, posted net income on Thursday that beat Wall Street expectations, but noted unit growth continued to go in the wrong direction.

In its fiscal first quarter, Amazon earned 18 cents a share on $16.07 billion in revenue, a year-over-year increase of 22%. Analysts were looking for earnings of 8 cents a share on $16.14 billion in sales.

For the quarter, Amazon said unit growth was 30% year over year, which slowed by 200 basis points from the last quarter, albeit a slower rate than in previous quarters. Unit growth has continued to slow, with digital seeing faster growth than physical. On a conference call, Amazon said the overall growth rate is being helped by the ecosystem which is built more in North America.

For the second quarter, Amazon expects revenue between $14.5 billion and $16.2 billion, a growth of 13% to 26% compared with second quarter of 2012.

Amazon Drops as Unit Growth Slows

Starbucks , the world's biggest coffee chain, on Thursday posted profit of $390.4 million, or 51 cents a share, up from $309.9 million, or 40 cents share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were 48 cents a share, in line with analysts' estimates.

Revenue in the quarter rose 11% to $3.56 billion. U.S. same-store sales in the quarter rose 7%.

Starbucks said it expects full-year earnings of $2.12 to $2.18 a share, up from its previous forecast of $2.06 to $2.15 a share.

George Soros revealed he had taken an 8% stake in JCPenney , the struggling retailer.

Soros Fund Management disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission 13G filing, dated April 15, that it bought 17.4 million shares, or a 7.9% stake in the retailer's stock.

Soros Takes JCPenney Stake to Lead Retail Higher

Wall Street is expecting Chevron to post first-quarter profit of $3.07 a share on revenue of $67.73 billion.

Analysts expect homebuilder DR Horton to report fiscal second-quarter earnings of 19 cents a share on revenue of $1.26 billion.

Yahoo! Chairman Alfred Amoroso will leave the board of the Internet company on June 25 at its annual shareholders meeting.

Yahoo! appointed Maynard Webb Jr. as interim chairman.

Amoroso is the eighth Yahoo! director to depart since early last year.

Marissa Mayer Makes Good; Yahoo! Launches New iOS App

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel

>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Joseph Woelfel

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com.

It's Official: Action Alerts PLUS beats the S&P 500 with Dividends Reinvested! Cramer and Link were up 16.72% in 2012. Were you? See what they are trading for 14-days FREE.

• 10 Biggest Summer Blockbusters Without Superheroes
• 10 Major League Towns Where Baseball Doesn't Cost a Bundle
• Men's Underwear Sales Show Bulge in the Economy