New York Times DealBook Summit Held In New York City

(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Amazon slides as it misses on Q4 earnings, gives downbeat profit guidance

The tech giant also forecast it would spend $200 billion on capex in 2026.

2/5/26 4:07PM

Amazon shares are sliding after the company missed Wall Street’s expectations for fourth-quarter earnings, gave downbeat first-quarter profit guidance, and forecast a whopping $200 billion of capital expenditure this year.

The stock is down almost 8% in premarket trading, as of 5:50 a.m. ET.

For the fourth quarter, Amazon’s earnings per share came in at $1.95, falling short of analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.97, according to FactSet.

Sales grew 14% to $213.4 billion, ahead of analysts’ expectations of $211.43 billion.

The tech giant also forecast first-quarter operating income of $16.5 billion to $21.5 billion, well below the Wall Street forecast for $22.18 billion. It sees sales landing between $173.5 billion and $178.5 billion, compared with analysts’ expectations for $175.62 billion.

Amazon’s AWS cloud business saw revenue jump 24% year on year to $35.6 billion, powered by huge demand for AI. The Street was expecting $34.9 billion.

The company’s capital expenditure — a number that’s been watched closely in recent quarters as tech giants spend vast sums of money to build the infrastructure to power AI — totaled $39.5 billion, topping analysts’ forecasts of $34.37 billion.

Amazon continued a trend of Big Tech companies laying out plans for monster capital spending, saying it expects to invest about $200 billion in capital expenditure this year.

On the earnings call, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the company had a backlog of $244 billion worth of AWS revenue, up 40% year over year.

Some highlights for the quarter:

The Trainium and Gravitron custom AI chips have a combined annual revenue of over $10 billion, growing fast.
Trainium4 chips are expected to start delivery in 2027.
Physical-store sales came in at $5.85 billion.
Advertising revenue was $21.37 billion, up 23% year on year.
Subscription revenue (Amazon Prime, audiobooks, etc.) was up 14% year on year, at $13.1 billion for the quarter.

Last week, Amazon announced it would reduce its corporate workforce by an additional 16,000 employees, after laying off 14,000 workers in October.

Go Deeper: For hyperscalers like Amazon, how much capex is too much?

Luke Kawa

7/13/26

Meet the newly public, Bezos-backed company that’s recreating the sun and stars

General Fusion CEO Greg Twinney spoke with Sherwood News from the Nasdaq during the stock’s first day of trading.

J. Edward Moreno7/7/26

SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

Luke Kawa

7/2/26

US job growth falls far short of estimates in June; unemployment rate unexpectedly dips to 4.2%

Job growth was 57,000. Analysts foresaw job growth of 113,000; prediction markets were more optimistic, looking for job growth above 125,000 but below 150,000.

Floridians Seek Employment Opportunities At Job Fair In Sunrise

Luke Kawa

7/1/26

Meta surges on report it’s starting a cloud business to sell excess AI compute

The story of the hyperscalers in 2026 has largely been “the beatings will continue until the cash flow outlook improves;” this could help change the story for Meta. Or not.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visits U.S. Capitol for Senate meetings

Paige Oamek6/30/26

Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).
Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

Amazon slides as it misses on Q4 earnings, gives downbeat profit guidance

More Markets

SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Latest Stories