Amazon Stock Surges As AWS Delivers The AI Cloud Growth Investors Wanted

Core Insights - Amazon's stock surged after reporting stronger-than-expected Q3 results, alleviating investor concerns about its cloud business and AI capabilities [1][2][4] Financial Performance - Amazon reported an adjusted earnings per share of $1.95 for Q3, a 33% increase year-over-year, surpassing analyst expectations of $1.57 [2] - Total sales for the quarter rose 13% to $180.2 billion, exceeding the forecast of $177.91 billion [2] - AWS sales grew 20% to $33 billion, outperforming the expected $32.4 billion [3] Business Segments - North America retail segment sales increased 11% year-over-year to $106.3 billion, ahead of estimates [7] - Advertising revenue rose 23.5% to $17.7 billion, showing acceleration from previous growth rates [7] Operational Insights - Operating income across all segments remained flat at $17.4 billion, impacted by a $2.5 billion FTC settlement and severance costs [8] - Without these charges, operating income would have increased by 25% to $21.7 billion [8] Future Guidance - Amazon guided for Q4 sales of $209.5 billion and operating income of $23.5 billion, slightly below analyst projections [6] - The company plans to increase capital expenditures to $125 billion for 2025, up from a previous estimate of $100 billion [13] AI and Cloud Strategy - CEO Andy Jassy emphasized AWS's leadership in cloud services and its commitment to AI, stating that AWS has doubled its capacity since 2022 [11] - Amazon's partnership with Anthropic aims to enhance its AI capabilities, with a new data center launched for training AI models [12] Market Reaction - Following the earnings report, Amazon's stock rose over 10% to $247, breaking out from a previous buy point [5]