Shares of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose nearly 10% after hours to $101.70, well above the stock’s 52-week high.

Revenue increased 28% to $5.45 billion in the third quarter, compared with $4.26 billion in same quarter last year. Net income increased 68% to $199 million, or $0.45 per share, compared with net income of $118 million, or $0.27 per share.

The company highlighted the extraordinary sales of its e-reader. “Kindle has become the #1 bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars – not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO.

For the fourth quarter revenue is expected to be between $8.125 billion and $9.125 billion, or to grow between 21% and 36% compared with fourth quarter 2008. Operating income is expected to be between $300 million and $425 million, or to grow between 10% and 56%, compared with fourth quarter 2008.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) had provided fairly gloomy expectations for the holidays and the Amazon optimism counter balances those.

Perhaps Amazon is just better run than the rest.

Douglas A. McIntyre