Amazon delivered a surprise win in its second‑quarter earnings release on Thursday, sending the stock up almost 10% in after‑hours trade. The retailer posted net sales that were 20% higher than a year ago, a gain anchored by a 37% surge in Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue, which climbed to $42 billion.
That cloud‑computing boom helped offset a widening expense gap. The company announced it spent $173 billion on property and equipment during the fiscal year that ended June 30, up sharply from $107.65 billion the previous year. The outlay covers everything from graphics‑processing units to natural‑gas turbines and land purchases for new data centers. With the higher spend, Amazon lifted its 2026 capital‑expenditure forecast from $200 billion to $220 billion.
Cash flow turned negative for the first time this year, as Amazon’s cash balance fell $7.6 billion compared with a year earlier. Despite the cash‑flow hit, analysts praised the earnings beat and the continued strength of AWS, which remains the engine that justifies the massive infrastructure build‑out.
CEO Andy Jassy used the earnings call to underline Amazon’s long‑term AI strategy. The firm is betting on custom silicon, including the Trainium tensor‑processing unit and the Arm‑based Graviton processor, to improve margins for its cloud business. "We see the AI business following very much the same margin trajectory we saw in the core business before," Jassy said, adding that AWS and Amazon Bedrock can thrive without owning a single dominant AI model.
Investors have taken note of the broader market dynamics. Shares of other cloud giants such as Microsoft and Google rose after they reported strong cloud revenues, while Meta’s stock slipped 8% amid concerns over its cash‑flow crunch and heavy spending. The contrast highlights the market’s preference for cloud providers that can monetize AI demand, even as the sustainability of that demand remains a question.
Amazon’s aggressive capex plan reflects confidence that AI‑driven workloads will keep data‑center capacity in high demand. Yet the company’s first negative free‑cash‑flow period this year signals that the spending spree is not without risk. If AI spending stalls at the lab or enterprise level, the revenue stream that fuels Amazon’s cloud expansion could falter.
For now, the earnings beat and the stock rally suggest investors are willing to back Amazon’s bet on cloud and AI infrastructure, even as the broader AI economy grapples with demand uncertainty. The company’s next quarterly report will reveal whether the heavy investment translates into sustained profitability and cash‑flow health.
Este artículo fue escrito con la asistencia de IA.
News Factory APP - noticias agénticas para impulsar tu SEO y AEO.