Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) Earnings

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Dec 2026upcoming

Next quarter

Expected to report Feb 4, 2027 — estimated from last year’s reporting date.

Consensus is $2.48 EPS for Dec 2026 across 14 estimates, ranging $2.36 to $2.67.

AMZN Sep 2026

Reported Oct 29, 2026 · after the close

: 5.97%
: -1.41%

: $2.01
: $1.89
: —
: $201.94B

Reported results

: $201.94B; from $180.17B
: 53.17%; from 50.79%
: $28.08B; from $17.42B
: 13.90%; from 9.67%
: $20.68B; from $21.19B
: $1.89; from $1.95

Highlights

AWS acceleration AWS sales rose 39.3% year over year to $46.0 billion, its fastest growth in nearly five years and sixth straight quarter of acceleration; operating income reached $17.8 billion, up 55%, at a 38.7% margin.
Record operating result Operating income increased 61% to $28.1 billion, and the 13.9% operating margin was Amazon’s highest ever, versus 9.7% a year ago and 13.7% in Q2.
EPS miss, despite stronger operations Diluted EPS of $1.89 fell short of the $2.01 consensus by 6%; net income was $20.7 billion, down from $21.2 billion and $1.95 per share a year ago. Last year’s quarter included $9.5 billion of pre-tax Anthropic investment gains.
Retail timing obscured growth Net sales rose 12% to $201.9 billion, or 13% excluding foreign exchange; Prime Day’s shift into Q2 reduced reported year-over-year growth by about 400 basis points.
Heavy AI investment Trailing-twelve-month free cash flow swung to a $42.4 billion outflow from a $14.8 billion inflow, as net property-and-equipment purchases rose $94.8 billion to $210.7 billion. Amazon reaffirmed approximately $220 billion of 2026 cash capex.
North America profitability Sales grew 6% to $112.9 billion, while operating income rose to $8.7 billion from $4.8 billion and operating margin expanded to 7.7% from 4.5%.
Q4 outlook Amazon forecast sales of $240–247 billion, up 12%–16%, and operating income of $28.5–33.5 billion versus $25.0 billion a year earlier; it expects advertising growth to return to the high teens.

Analysis

Amazon’s third quarter combined a sharp acceleration in AWS and record consolidated operating profitability with an EPS miss and a much heavier investment burden. Revenue of $201.9 billion increased 12% year over year (13% excluding foreign exchange) and 0.7% from Q2’s $200.6 billion. The Prime Day shift from Q3 last year to Q2 this year weighed on the comparison: management estimated reported year-over-year growth would have been about 400 basis points higher without it. Operating income climbed 61% year over year to $28.1 billion, lifting margin to a record 13.9%, from 9.7% a year ago and 13.7% last quarter. Diluted EPS of $1.89 missed the $2.01 consensus by 6% and declined from $1.95 a year ago; last year’s net income benefited from $9.5 billion in pre-tax Anthropic gains. Q2’s $5.75 EPS is also a distorted comparison, with unusually large investment gains in the first half of 2026.

The defining growth story was AWS: sales rose 39.3% to $46.0 billion, with management pointing to strong demand across AI and core cloud workloads and projecting growth above 40% in both 2027 and 2028. The other central issue is the cost of building for that demand. Trailing-twelve-month operating cash flow grew 29% to $168.3 billion, but free cash flow turned negative at $42.4 billion as capital investment surged. Amazon reaffirmed roughly $220 billion of 2026 cash capex and said 2027 spending would be meaningfully higher.

AWS growth and investment

AWS was the quarter’s standout: sales rose 39.3% year over year to $46.0 billion, adding $3.8 billion sequentially and reaching a $184 billion annualized run rate. Growth accelerated for a sixth consecutive quarter despite comparison with a period of significant capacity additions. Operating income grew 55% to $17.8 billion; the 38.7% margin was below Q2’s 39.4% but above 34.6% a year earlier.

Demand and visibility Management cited growth in both core compute and storage and AI services; AI revenue grew at triple-digit rates. AWS backlog stood at $578 billion, up more than 100% year over year.
AI adoption Fortune 500 spending on Bedrock was nearly 7x year over year and token volume nearly 17x. Tens of thousands of customers use AgentCore, deploying twice as many agents in Q3 as in the preceding three quarters combined.
Capacity and returns Q3 cash capex was $75.9 billion, primarily for AWS and AI. Amazon expects 2026 cash capex of about $220 billion and meaningfully more in 2027. Management projected AWS sales growth above 40% in each of 2027 and 2028, while noting AI has lower margins than core AWS and component costs remain a pressure.

Operating leverage

Consolidated operating income rose $10.7 billion year over year to $28.1 billion as sales grew 12%, producing a record 13.9% operating margin. The comparison includes a lower Q3 2025 base, which had $2.9 billion of other operating expense, versus $134 million this quarter; management attributed the prior-year amount mainly to a lawsuit settlement. Sequentially, operating income increased from $27.5 billion in Q2 and margin from 13.7%.

Retail and advertising

Prime Day timing makes the reported retail growth comparisons look weaker than underlying demand: the event occurred in Q2 for most large countries this year but entirely in Q3 last year. Paid units grew 12% worldwide, while management said year-to-date units were up nearly 15%. The business continued to balance faster delivery and selection with cost control, despite higher fuel and line-haul costs.

North America Sales increased 6% to $112.9 billion; operating income rose to $8.7 billion from $4.8 billion, with margin up to 7.7% from 4.5%.
International Sales increased 5% reported and 8% excluding foreign exchange to $43.1 billion. Operating income rose to $1.6 billion from $1.2 billion, and margin improved to 3.7% from 2.9%.
Advertising Revenue was $19.6 billion, up 12% excluding foreign exchange. Management cited Prime Day timing, NBA schedule differences and the prior-year comparison from a search-marketing change; it expects high-teens year-over-year growth in Q4.
Delivery and grocery More than 1.5 billion items reached Prime customers same-day or overnight. Fresh groceries and everyday essentials grew about 3x faster than the rest of the store and represented about half of units sold.

Cash flow and capex

Investment in infrastructure is now flowing through to cash generation more visibly than operating results. Trailing-twelve-month operating cash flow increased 29% to $168.3 billion, but net purchases of property and equipment reached $210.7 billion, up $94.8 billion year over year. The resulting free cash flow was a $42.4 billion outflow, compared with a $14.8 billion inflow a year earlier. Amazon attributed the rise in spending primarily to AI investment. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $114.2 billion at quarter end, down from $123.0 billion at December 2025.

Fourth-quarter outlook

Amazon guided to Q4 net sales of $240–247 billion, growth of 12%–16% year over year, including an estimated 60-basis-point foreign-exchange headwind. Operating income is expected at $28.5–33.5 billion, compared with $25.0 billion in Q4 2025. The guidance includes continued expense recognition for most Amazon Leo costs in Q4; the company expects to begin capitalizing certain costs in Q1 2027, later than it had previously anticipated. The company maintained its approximately $220 billion 2026 cash-capex expectation.

Amazon.com, Inc.

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