Amazon to report Q4 earnings with capex, AI growth in focus

Core Viewpoint - Amazon is set to report its fourth quarter earnings amid concerns about overspending and a potential bubble in the AI sector, following mixed reactions to earnings reports from Meta and Microsoft [1] Group 1: Earnings Expectations - Amazon is expected to report earnings per share (EPS) of $1.96 on revenue of $211.5 billion, reflecting a 5% increase in EPS and a 13% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year [3] - The AWS segment is projected to reach $34.9 billion, a 21% increase from $28.8 billion reported last year [4] - Online store sales are anticipated to hit $82.3 billion, representing an 8.9% year-over-year growth [4] Group 2: Job Cuts and Organizational Changes - Amazon announced a reduction of 16,000 jobs as part of a strategy to streamline its organization by reducing layers and bureaucracy, a trend also seen in other Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Meta [2] - The company is closing some Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores, replacing them with Whole Foods locations [2] Group 3: Capital Expenditures - Amazon's capital expenditures are expected to rise from $34.2 billion in Q3 to $34.9 billion in Q4, with plans to spend $125 billion in 2025 and ramping up in 2026 to meet AI demand [5] - Wall Street is closely monitoring Amazon's capital expenditures, reflecting concerns about spending in the current market environment [6] Group 4: Market Performance - Amazon's stock has decreased by 1.8%, while Microsoft has seen a slight increase of less than 1%, contrasting with Google's stock, which has surged over 60% due to the success of its Gemini 3 AI models [3]