Sales jumped for Amazon in the third quarter, but spending canceled out much of the ground the e-tailer gained, resulting in a weak quarter.

Amazon's sales were up 24 percent, but spending to get new projects off the ground soaked up much of those profits, the New York Times reports. Amazon also announced that it is curtailing spending and expects a good holiday season. Iinvestors responded, bidding up shares of the e-tailer 14 percent in after-hours trading.

Amazon's profit of $19 million in the quarter was easily surpassed by $171 million worth of spending on projects such as Amazon Unbox, a video-downloading service that debuted earlier this fall.

But investors are encouraged by Amazon's pledge to cut spending, as well as the company's forecast for the holiday season. Amazon expects revenue of $3.63-$3.95 billion during the fourth quarter, an increase of 22-33 percent over the period last year. Wall Street had anticipated revenue of $3.69 billion.