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Key Takeaways
- Amazon shares surged after hours Thursday as the company reported better third-quarter earnings than analysts had expected.
- Growth in the company’s Amazon Web Services helped boost the results.
Amazon (AMZN) shares popped in extended trading Thursday after the e-commerce and cloud giant posted third-quarter results that blew past analysts’ estimates, driven by growth in its cloud business.
The shares were up over 13% above $253 after hours, at what would be their first all-time high since early February.
The online retail and cloud computing provider reported earnings per share of $1.95, up from $1.43 the same time a year ago, and well above the analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha. Revenue rose 13% year-over-year to $180.2 billion, also beating expectations as sales in the company’s Amazon Web Services segment jumped 20% to $33 billion.
Why This Is Significant
Like many of its big tech peers, Amazon faces pressure to show its investments in AI are paying off, and Thursday’s strong showing from its cloud business and the ensuing jump in Amazon’s stock would point to growing optimism about its trajectory.
“We continue to see strong momentum and growth across Amazon as AI drives meaningful improvements in every corner of our business,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, adding that the company has particularly benefited from “strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we’ve been focused on accelerating capacity.”
Looking ahead, Amazon said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to come in between $206 billion and $213 billion, compared to the analyst estimate of $208.66 billion.
The company also lifted its projected capital expenditures for the full year to $125 billion from about $118 billion previously, with CFO Brian Olsavsky telling investors during Thursday’s earnings call he expects it to rise in 2026.
Earlier this week, Amazon announced what could be its largest layoffs in the company’s history, with plans to reduce its headcount by about 14,000 jobs, through layoffs and changes to hiring plans as it and other tech companies look to trim costs elsewhere as they boost investments in AI infrastructure.
Through Thursday’s close, the shares were up less than 2% for 2025, as concerns about tariffs and disappointing cloud growth earlier in the year weighed on sentiment around the stock.
This article has been updated since it was first published to include additional information and reflect more recent share prices.
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