Amazon stock jumps as AI demand drives cloud unit returns
Investing.com — Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported third-quarter earnings that surpassed analyst estimates, driving its stock over 6% in early US trading Friday, as the group said it was beginning to clock gains from its artificial intelligence operations.
The e-commerce and cloud computing giant posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.43, beating the analyst consensus of $1.14. Revenue for the quarter came in at $158.9 billion, topping estimates of $157.25 billion and marking an 11% increase year-on-year.
The operating income for the quarter came in at $17.4 billion, well ahead of $15 billion to $16 billion expectations. Barclays analysts said above-consensus revenue and operating profit “should be a significant relief to Amazon bulls after a couple quarters of sequentially declining retail operating margin.”
CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon is benefiting from “once in a lifetime” opportunities from so-called generative AI. The boom in enthusiasm around AI has led many businesses to start shelling out more cash on the cloud computing capacity needed to underpin the nascent technology.
Amazon’s key cloud division, Amazon Web Services, was experiencing a particular boost, with Jassy saying its AI operations were already seeing “triple-digit” growth. Sales at AWS spiked by 19% to $27.5 billion.
The surge in AI demand, however, has also contributed to a massive rush in capital expenditures by Amazon on data centers and networking equipment. Jassy estimated Amazon would spend $75 billion this year and even more in the next, saying the company is “aggressively pursuing” AI.
Amazon highlighted the expansion of its generative AI shopping assistant, Rufus, to several new countries and the launch of new AI-powered features for sellers and advertisers.
“As we get into the holiday season, we’re excited about what we have in store for customers,” Jassy said.
Amazon’s North America segment sales rose by 9% to $95.5 billion, while its international division grew 12% to $35.9 billion. The company’s overall operating margin hit 11%, its highest ever. AWS margins stood at 38%, also a new peak.
“We think this print could go a long way to restoring the bull spirits around Amazon shares which have lagged megacap peers all year,” Barclays analysts added.
Looking ahead, Amazon’s fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $181.5 billion to $188.5 billion fell short of the $186.36 billion analyst consensus at the midpoint. The company expects operating income between $16.0 billion and $20.0 billion for Q4.
Despite the slight miss, Bernstein analysts led by Mark Shmulik said they “remain constructive” on Amazon’s fourth-quarter top-line “as we expect AWS and advertising to accelerate into year-end.”
(Senad Karaahmetovic and Scott Kanowsky contributed reporting.)
