AMZN Stock Soars 7% After-Hours — Amazon’s Q2’26 AWS Sales Grow At Fastest Pace In Five Years

• Amazon sees Q3 revenue at between $197.0 billion and $202.0 billion, up 9% to 12% from the same quarter last year. 
• Analysts polled by Fiscal.ai see Q3 revenue at $194.2 billion to $211.4 billion. 
• Amazon reported AWS sales at $42.2 billion, up 37%, the fastest growth since the quarter ending December 2021. 

Amazon Inc. (AMZN) share price soared 7% after-hours on Thursday after revenue and earnings beat analyst expectations while its AWS cloud sales jumped for the fifth consecutive quarter. 

Amazon Web Services, which accounts for around one-fifth of total revenue and the bulk of operating profits, disclosed that revenue surged 37% to $42.2 billion, above analyst expectations of $40.6 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This marked the most rapid acceleration of growth for the division since 2021's fourth quarter. 

The cloud services and delivery company reported quarterly revenue of $201 billion, outperforming expectations of $196.5 billion and marking a 20% year-over-year increase. 

AMZN Stock: Q2 Earnings And Capex

Earnings per share surged to $5.75, a substantial rise from $1.68 in the prior year, significantly beating Wall Street projections of $1.82. A key driver for these earnings was $53 billion in non-operational income, primarily stemming from an unrealized gain on the company's investment in the private AI laboratory, Anthropic.

On the capex front, the company reported spending about $53 billion on property and equipment outlays, including proceeds from some sales, in Q2. Amazon earlier had mentioned its plan to spend about $200 billion on capital projects in 2026, mostly on AI-led initiatives, prompting investors to focus on any signs of overspending.

Amazon, along with other hyperscalers including Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta Platforms (META), has been under intense investor scrutiny related to its AI capital expenditure plans as doubts seep in about the returns these expenses would generate. 

AMZN Stock: Q3 Outlook 

The company forecast revenue to be between $197.0 billion and $202.0 billion, or to grow between 9% and 12% compared with the third quarter of 2025, with the lower end of the forecast beating analyst expectations of $194.2 billion to $211.4 billion, as per Fiscal.ai.

Amazon also expects operating income to be between $22.5 billion and $26.5 billion, compared with $17.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025. 

AMZN Stock: Retail View 

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits was ‘bullish’ with ‘high’ message volumes. 

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