Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.08 EPS

Posted by Brian Himes on Oct 30th, 2026

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The e-commerce giant reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.97 by ($0.08), FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $201.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.22 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 17.44%. Amazon.com’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.95 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Amazon.com’s conference call:

Amazon delivered record profitability: Q3 revenue rose 12% to $201.9 billion, while operating income increased 61% to $28.1 billion, producing a record 13.9% operating margin.
AWS growth accelerated sharply to 39.3%, with $46 billion in quarterly revenue and a $184 billion annualized run rate. Management expects AWS to grow more than 40% in both 2027 and 2028 and believes it could become a $1 trillion-plus business within five to 10 years.
AI demand remains exceptionally strong across Bedrock, custom chips, inference, and agents; AWS backlog reached $578 billion, while Bedrock token volume grew nearly 17 times year over year and Fortune 500 spending on the service nearly septupled.
Amazon is committing heavily to infrastructure, with roughly $220 billion of 2026 cash CapEx and meaningfully higher spending expected in 2027. Management expects attractive long-term returns, but AI growth and higher component costs could pressure AWS margins, which were 38.7% in Q3.
Retail operations continued to improve, with units up nearly 15% year over year, faster delivery, lower cost to serve, and strong grocery and pharmacy adoption. Q4 net sales are forecast at $240 billion to $247 billion, while advertising growth is expected to return to the high teens after timing-related Q3 headwinds.

Amazon.com Stock Down 4.2%

AMZN opened at $243.79 on Friday. Amazon.com has a one year low of $196.00 and a one year high of $287.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $254.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.12.

More Amazon.com News

Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

Positive Sentiment: AWS growth accelerated sharply. Amazon Web Services revenue increased 39% to approximately $46 billion, its fastest growth in nearly five years, and management said growth could exceed 40% in 2027 and 2028. AWS remains Amazon’s primary earnings driver, accounting for a large share of operating profit. Amazon AWS revenue grows 39%, leading to wider margin
Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Amazon’s long-term AI and cloud opportunity. Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating and set a $317 price target, citing strong AWS momentum. CEO Andy Jassy also forecast that AWS and Amazon’s stores business could each eventually reach $1 trillion in annual revenue, while the company plans to launch initial Leo satellite-internet service this year. Amazon Price Target Trimmed to $317
Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is expanding its AI infrastructure and automation capabilities. Jassy said Amazon has more than one million warehouse robots and expects automation to handle more repetitive work. The company also plans to sell its internally developed Trainium AI chips to customers outside AWS by late 2027, potentially creating a new revenue stream but requiring continued investment.
Negative Sentiment: Amazon missed quarterly expectations. Third-quarter EPS was $1.89 versus consensus estimates near $1.97-$2.01, while revenue of $201.9 billion also fell modestly short of forecasts. Earnings declined from $1.95 a year earlier despite 12.1% revenue growth. Amazon projects fourth quarter sales below estimates
Negative Sentiment: Capital spending is overwhelming near-term cash generation. Amazon reported negative free cash flow of roughly $42.4 billion over the past 12 months after spending $77.3 billion on property and equipment in the quarter. Its roughly $220 billion 2026 capital-expenditure outlook, alongside expectations for higher AI spending in 2027, has raised concerns about debt, profitability and the timing of investment returns. A cautious fourth-quarter revenue outlook added pressure ahead of the holiday season.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total transaction of $5,180,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,235,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $579,085,751.66. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,258 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.77, for a total value of $2,404,950.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,699,926.30. This trade represents a 18.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 71,589 shares of company stock worth $18,580,515. Insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AMZN. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $329.00 price target on Amazon.com and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $385.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “conviction-buy” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.74.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on AMZN

Amazon.com Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Amazon.com, Inc is a global technology and e-commerce company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. Originally launched as an online bookstore, the company has expanded into a broad digital marketplace offering consumer products across numerous categories, including electronics, household goods, apparel, groceries and other merchandise. Amazon also sells products under its own brands and provides logistics, fulfillment and delivery services that support its retail operations and third-party sellers.

The company’s principal businesses include online and physical retail, Amazon Web Services (AWS), digital advertising, subscription services and consumer technology.