SEATTLE — Amazon is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings Thursday, Oct. 29, with Wall Street expecting double-digit revenue growth as investors assess the company’s expanding artificial intelligence investments, cloud computing business and consumer spending trends ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Analysts expect Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) to report revenue of approximately $202.16 billion, an increase of 12.2% from $180.17 billion during the same quarter last year, according to consensus estimates compiled by MarketBeat.
Earnings are projected at $1.96 per share, compared with $1.95 a year earlier, indicating relatively flat profit growth despite the anticipated increase in sales.
The results will provide an important look at Amazon’s ability to balance rapidly expanding technology infrastructure investments with profitability in its e-commerce and cloud computing operations.
A central focus will be Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing division and a major contributor to operating income.
AWS has benefited from growing corporate demand for artificial intelligence training, data processing and cloud infrastructure. However, competition from Microsoft’s Azure and Alphabet’s Google Cloud has intensified as technology companies race to provide computing capacity for increasingly sophisticated AI systems.
Investors will closely examine AWS revenue growth, operating margins and management’s outlook for demand from enterprise customers.
Amazon has been expanding its data center infrastructure to support AI workloads while investing in its own semiconductor technology, including Trainium and Inferentia processors.
Those custom chips are intended to reduce dependence on outside suppliers and improve the economics of operating large-scale artificial intelligence systems.
The spending required to support that expansion has become a major consideration for investors.
Amazon has outlined plans for approximately $200 billion in capital expenditures during 2026, reflecting substantial investments in data centers, computing infrastructure and artificial intelligence technology.
While those investments could strengthen the company’s competitive position, they also place pressure on free cash flow and raise questions about how quickly AI-related revenue will generate acceptable financial returns.
The company’s retail business will provide another important measure of consumer spending.
Amazon’s North American and international online retail operations account for the majority of total revenue, making the company sensitive to changes in household budgets, inflation and discretionary purchasing.
Higher prices for food, gasoline and other essentials can influence consumer behavior, potentially encouraging shoppers to seek lower-priced products or reduce spending on nonessential purchases.
Amazon has emphasized competitive pricing, faster deliveries and an expanding selection of products to maintain customer loyalty.
The company has also continued investing in automation and logistics improvements designed to reduce fulfillment costs and improve delivery efficiency.
Investors will examine whether those operational changes are supporting higher profit margins in Amazon’s North American retail business.
Advertising represents another closely watched growth opportunity.
Amazon has developed a substantial digital advertising business by allowing brands and third-party sellers to promote products across its shopping platform and other digital properties.
The advertising operation benefits from Amazon’s direct access to consumer purchasing activity and has become an increasingly important contributor to company revenue.
Continued growth in advertising could help offset some of the costs associated with Amazon’s investments in AI infrastructure and logistics.
The company’s second-quarter results demonstrated the scale of its operations. Amazon reported revenue of $200.61 billion for the quarter ended June 30, an increase of approximately 20% from the previous year.
Reported earnings reached $5.75 per share, although those results included significant investment-related gains. Investors will be watching underlying operating performance to assess the strength of Amazon’s core businesses.
Operating income and management’s profitability guidance will be particularly important as the company approaches the final quarter of 2026.
The fourth quarter traditionally represents Amazon’s largest sales period because of holiday shopping, making management’s revenue forecast a closely followed indicator of consumer demand.
Investors will also evaluate the company’s expectations for holiday spending, shipping costs, workforce requirements and international sales.
The company’s expansion into artificial intelligence has required substantial spending on specialized processors, networking equipment, electrical infrastructure and data center construction.
The pace of investment has increased scrutiny of whether demand for AI services will produce sufficient revenue to justify the industry’s rapidly expanding infrastructure.
Amazon is scheduled to release its third-quarter financial results after the stock market closes Thursday, followed by a conference call with analysts and investors at 5 p.m. Eastern.
