Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), a global e-commerce and cloud computing platform, closed at $243.79, down 4.25%. Investors were focused on its third quarter earnings report after the close, with AWS growth, capex, margins, and fourth-quarter guidance in view.
Trading volume reached 70.8 million shares, coming in about 81% above its three-month average of 39.2 million shares. Amazon.com IPO’d in 1997 and has grown 248,876% since going public.
How the markets moved today
The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) closed at 7,720, down 0.31%, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) finished at 26,185, down 1.38%. Among global e-commerce and retail peers, Walmart closed at $121.25, up 2.09%, and eBay closed at $121.19, up 2.69%, highlighting a mixed read-through for retail names.
What this means for investors
On Thursday, Amazon shares fell ahead of its after-hours Q3 report as investors watched AWS cloud computing growth, $220 billion in 2026 capex, margins, and fourth-quarter guidance. The company’s stock sank further in after-hours trading, following misses on both earnings per share (EPS) and revenue expectations for Q3.
Amazon reported revenue of $201.9 billion, a 12% year-over-year increase, and diluted EPS of $1.89. However, Wall Street was expecting $202.2 billion in sales and earnings of $1.97 per share. Moreover, the e-commerce giant forecasted between $240 billion and $247 billion in fourth-quarter revenue compared with analysts’ average estimate of $244.51 billion.
Even so, the company is delivering impressive performance from its AWS business, justifying the case for its substantial $220 billion in capex. The division’s sales growth accelerated to 39% year over year to $46 billion in Q3, up from 37% in Q2. The artificial intelligence boom led to new agreements with the likes of Meta and Salesforce. Management now projects AWS revenue growth rates will exceed 40% in both 2027 and 2028. Over the long haul, Amazon’s capex investments look poised to deliver solid returns.
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