Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

By PYMNTS  |  July 30, 2026

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Amazon’s decision this week to scale back parts of its homegrown artificial intelligence portfolio has been taken by the marketplace as a retreat from the frontier-model competition.

That’s only partly true. Amazon appears to be abandoning the most expensive and least defensible layer of the AI stack in order to strengthen the businesses where it already enjoys structural advantages: cloud computing, retail operations, advertising and logistics.

In other words, Amazon may be giving up on winning the AI popularity contest in favor of winning the AI economy. The tech and retail giant is scaling back development of several products within its Nova family, including its Premier and Omni models as well as Reel and Canvas. Some have reportedly shifted into maintenance mode, while engineering resources are being redirected toward a smaller number of advanced initiatives.

On the surface, the moves resemble a retreat. Viewed through a business lens, however, they look more like capital discipline. It also raises the stakes in Amazon’s competition with Walmart, which is applying AI to shopping, supply chains and employee productivity without attempting to compete directly in the frontier-model race.

See more: Amazon and Walmart Face a New Gatekeeper for Loyalty 

Retailers Get Specific About the AI They Need for Their Operations Amazon does not need to build the world’s most celebrated AI model to become one of the biggest economic winners from AI. It needs companies to rent its computing infrastructure, deploy models through AWS and use artificial intelligence to buy more ads, move more inventory and lower the cost of fulfilling orders.

Amazon is restructuring its artificial intelligence operation, scaling back several homegrown models and concentrating resources on a smaller number of advanced projects. The shift comes as Amazon prepares to spend heavily on AI infrastructure while trying to turn the technology into practical advantages across its cloud, advertising, logistics and retail businesses.

Whether an enterprise chooses Anthropic, Meta, Amazon or another provider, AWS benefits when customers consume more compute. Amazon Bedrock becomes more valuable as organizations seek a single environment to deploy, govern and switch among multiple models.

Amazon’s strategic rival is not only OpenAI or Google. It is Walmart.

See also: Amazon and Walmart’s Summer Sale Wars Deliver a Win (With An Asterisk) 

Walmart is applying AI to product search, supply chains, employee productivity and store operations without making a major bid to become a frontier-model leader. That contrast matters because it points toward the next phase of retail AI competition.

Amazon and Walmart are unlikely to win based on which company trains the most impressive general-purpose model. They will win based on which company can connect increasingly available intelligence to proprietary commercial systems.

For Amazon, those systems include fulfillment centers, marketplace sellers, advertising inventory, Prime relationships and AWS. For Walmart, they include stores, local inventory, supplier relationships, employee workflows and purchase data.

The competitive advantage is shifting from model ownership to operational context.

Consumers now use mobile devices for 53% of purchases, but according to new data from PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa Acceptance Solutions, the bigger shift is happening before checkout. The report, “Global Digital Shopping Index: The AI-Powered Shopper Has Arrived,” revealed the ways in which the smartphone has become an in-store force. Shoppers now use their phones to discover products, compare prices, read reviews, check inventory, access loyalty offers and pay in stores.

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Amazon reports Q2 2026 earnings after today’s close, with Wall Street expecting adjusted EPS of $1.82 on approximately $196.4 billion in revenue. Polymarket traders assign a 96.2% probability of an earnings beat, even as Amazon shares have fallen 7.43% over the past week.

AWS growth and Amazon’s enormous capital spending program will likely drive the reaction. With annual capex expected to surpass $200 billion, investors need evidence that cloud demand can justify the investment.

A clean beat with AWS growth holding near 28% would strengthen the AI infrastructure thesis. Slower AWS growth or weaker margins could revive concerns that Amazon is spending too aggressively.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) will be reporting Q2 2026 earnings results tonight at around 4:00 PM ET. AWS acceleration, Prime Day contribution, and a $200B AI infrastructure buildout put this report at the center of the current Mag 7 earnings week.

AI Spend Meets Margin Discipline Q1 2026 set a high bar. Amazon delivered $2.78 EPS versus a $1.64 estimate, revenue of $181.52B, up 16.6% YoY, and operating income of $23.85B, up 30%. AWS grew 28%, its fastest in 15 quarters, with a 37.7% operating margin.

Since then, shares have cooled. AMZN closed at $226.65 yesterday, down 5.62% over one month and 1.81% YTD. Andy Jassy framed the setup bluntly: “We’re in the middle of some of the biggest inflections of our lifetime, we’re well positioned to lead, and I’m very optimistic about what’s ahead.”

Consensus Estimates Metric Q2 2026 Estimate Company Guidance FY 2026 FY 2027 Revenue $196.4B $194.0B to $199.0B N/A N/A EPS (Normalized) $1.82 N/A N/A N/A Operating Income N/A $20.0B to $24.0B N/A N/A Revenue guidance implies 16%-19% YoY growth, an acceleration from Q1. The operating income band, compared with $19.2B a year ago, reflects pressure from a $1B step-up in Leo satellite costs and elevated AI depreciation.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Amazon didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

AWS, Chips, and the Capex Question Tonight, I’ll be watching AWS growth first. Sustaining 28% on this base would validate the company’s capex thesis. Any deceleration reopens the debate that dogged shares through July.

Trainium and Graviton are a second item to watch. Amazon’s chip business hit a $20B+ revenue run rate, growing in the triple digits, with OpenAI committing ~2 GW of Trainium capacity starting in 2027 and Anthropic up to 5 GW. Bedrock adoption also matters: Q1 processed more tokens than all prior periods combined, with 170% QoQ growth in customer spend.

Investors will also focus on margins. AWS operating margin slipped to 37.7% from 39.5% a year earlier as depreciation ramps. North America margin, by contrast, expanded to 7.9% from 6.3%. Advertising, now over $70B TTM and up 24%, remains a sneaky profit lever.

Finally, the tone on tariffs. Management flagged FX, trade policy, and memory chip supply as Q2 risks, and Polymarket traders assign a 94.5% chance the call mentions tariffs.

Earnings History Quarter EPS Surprise Day-Of Move 1-Day Move 1-Week Move Q1 2026 +60.69% +0.77% +1.21% +2.31% Q4 2025 0% -5.55% -0.76% -5.48% Q3 2025 +26.62% +9.58% +4.00% +0.08% Q2 2025 +26.32% -8.27% -1.44% +3.70% On average, shares moved 2.72% in the week after an earnings beat over the past year.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Amazon didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Earnings on deck this afternoon for Apple and Amazon will likely decide if the stock market can end what's so far been a rough week on solid footing.

Unfortunately for bulls it's been tough to get two big-tech winners at once this earnings soon — last week Alphabet and Tesla fell together, and last night Microsoft rallied while Meta fell. It's easy to see Apple and Amazon finding the same fate, with the stocks going in different directions so far this year and options flows mixed.

Apple is up 25% year to date, making records and a seeing a 7% rally since the S&P 500 peaked on June 2. Options traders are braced for a bigger-than-usual move on earnings, with implied volatility pricing a 3.4% move after the report drops — more than double the stock's median 1.5% move after its past four reports.

AAPL year to date

While options flows were leaning bullish to start the week, early gain in Apple share reversed while the stock market sold off Wednesday and options traders took a more bearish lean in the stock.

While more than $470 million of the $634 million in options premium on Apple Wednesday was tied to calls, much of it was calls sold, with net trade sentiment in the options leaning slightly bearish, according to data from SpotGamma and Barchart. The most popular contract expiring Friday by volume Wednesday was the 330-strike puts, which need a more than 3% drop to pay off.

In Amazon, exactly flat on the year, traders look a bit more optimistic. Most of the $615 million in options premium was tied to puts Wednesday, but traders looked more likely to sell that volatility than buy it. Net trade sentiment was positive by almost $3 million and 100,000 deltas, Barchart analysis shows.

Traders expect a 6.6% move after Amazon earnings, compared to the median 7% move the past four quarters, according to Cboe LiveVol data.

by Kurt Schlosser on Jul 30, 2026 at 8:29 amJuly 30, 2026 at 8:29 am

One of the electric Volkswagen ID. BUZZ vehicles that will serve as a free shuttle for light rail riders arriving in downtown Bellevue, Wash. (Visit Seattle Photo) Stepping off the light rail in downtown Bellevue, Wash., is about to come with a free ride.

Visit Bellevue announced this week that it’s launching a free electric shuttle pilot program on Aug. 3 to help riders on Sound Transit’s 2 line continue their journey to other downtown destinations.

The new service is funded by Amazon and Visit Bellevue in partnership with Circuit, the City of Bellevue and Sound Transit. The pilot will run through December as an extension of the BellHop program, an on-demand electric shuttle service that started in the city in 2023.

The shuttle program will service riders at Bellevue’s downtown light rail station with two Volkswagen ID. BUZZ electric vans. Passengers can board at a designated pickup spot and request a drop-off location within the roughly 4-mile service area — no reservation or mobile app is required.

Riders looking to return to the light rail station can use the BellHop service by booking an on-demand ride via the Ride Circuit app.

Amazon employs roughly 14,000 corporate workers in Bellevue. The opening this spring of the Link light rail Crosslake Connection across Lake Washington was viewed as a vital new transportation option for tech workers commuting between Seattle and Eastside campuses.

“We see tremendous value in programs that improve access to public transit, support sustainable mobility, and connect people with local businesses and destinations,” Keri Pravitz, manager of Community Engagement for Amazon in Bellevue, said in a statement.

The new shuttle will operate Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. See a map of the service area below.

The Bellevue light rail shuttle service area. (Via Visit Bellevue) Previous StoryInterlune builds on partnership with equipment company to lay the groundwork for moon infrastructure

Amazon is set to announce its second-quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday.

Here's what analysts are expecting, according to estimates compiled by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.82 Revenue: $196.47 billion Wall Street is also looking at other key revenue numbers:

Amazon Web Services: $40.54 billion expected, according to StreetAccountAdvertising: $19.43 billion expected, according to StreetAccountInvestors are watching Amazon and the rest of the so-called hyperscalers' capital expenditures as the mood around massive investments in artificial intelligence has grown increasingly jittery. Alphabet shares sank last week after the company hiked its capex forecast for the year to as high as $205 billion.

On Thursday, Microsoft shares surged as much as 15% after the company reported better-than-expected earnings and reaffirmed its 2026 capex plans. Meta's stock tumbled 9%, meanwhile, after it gave a light revenue forecast for the current quarter, with its AI bets eating into its cash flow.

Amazon's capital expenditures reached $44.2 billion in the first quarter, up 77% from a year ago, and the figure is expected to creep higher in the second quarter to $49.3 billion, per FactSet data.

The company held steady on its February guidance that capex will hit roughly $200 billion for 2026. But several analysts are expecting Amazon to follow in the footsteps of Alphabet and lift its forecast for the year.

Read more CNBC tech newsMicrosoft beats Q4 cloud expectations as full-year Azure revenue tops $100 billionMeta's Reality Labs lost over $4.6 billion in second quarterMeta posts earnings miss, issues light revenue guidanceTim Cook's last earnings call comes at momentous time for Apple with stock at recordAnalysts at Morgan Stanley wrote in a research note earlier this month that the "ecosystem remains compute-constrained and urgency to spend remains high." They now expect Amazon's capex to reach $218 billion this year, and forecast budgets to keep rising through 2028, when capex could total $318 billion.

The analysts were also bullish on Amazon's cloud business, pointing to its "private lab deals" as a catalyst for "multi-year growth durability." Amazon has continued to deepen its cloud and chips partnerships with the leading AI providers OpenAI and Anthropic. In April, it struck a deal with Meta to supply the social networking giant with AWS Graviton chips.

"We also think AWS's access to almost all of the leading models, small/medium and customized models position it as a winner in a world where optimizing token cost per task is the key," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.

Cloud growth will be in focus after Amazon's primary rivals both posted strong results. Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% year over year in the most recent quarter. Microsoft's Azure cloud revenue rose 43% during the fiscal fourth quarter.

AWS revenue is expected to rise about 31% from a year ago, according to StreetAccount, compared with 28% growth in the first quarter, which represented its fastest expansion in more than three years.

While Amazon continues to invest in AI, it has trimmed its corporate head count. The company held layoffs in its customer service and seller support divisions in recent months.

Amazon stock chart.

Last week, it announced job cuts in its artificial general intelligence unit, marking the latest reorganization of that group after Amazon installed a new AGI leader and the head of its AGI Lab announced his departure.

During the second quarter, Amazon hosted its annual Prime Day discount bonanza. The company moved up the event from its typical July time frame, citing a busy calendar marked by the World Cup and America's 250th anniversary of independence.

Mizuho analysts wrote in a Monday note that the timing shift could lead to a slowdown in Amazon's North America retail sales growth in the third quarter before they reaccelerate in the fourth quarter.

U.S. online spending across all retailers during Prime Day, which ran June 23 through June 26, grew about 9.3% year over year to $26.4 billion, according to Adobe. Amazon doesn't release sales figures from the event.

Evercore analysts described the event as "reasonably successful" in a note to clients earlier this week. Analysts at KeyBanc said their proprietary data showed Prime Week spending rose 41.7%, compared with 50.5% last year, indicating the event was "strong, but not as strong as last year."

Amazon stock is up about 3% year to date, while the S&P 500 has risen roughly 8%.

watch now

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 30th, 2026

Avalon Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 368,803 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,398 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for about 5.3% of Avalon Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Avalon Trust Co’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $76,811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Narwhal Capital Management raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 216,606 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $49,997,000 after buying an additional 4,854 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,653,228 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,690,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,275,942 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 39,264 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,063,000 after buying an additional 4,713 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 36,485 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $8,421,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Amazon.com by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. now owns 30,444 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $7,027,000 after buying an additional 2,412 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amazon.com News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect another strong quarter from Amazon Web Services, with forecasts calling for approximately 31%–33% year-over-year AWS revenue growth. Investors are also watching for improving e-commerce margins and advertising momentum. Amazon Q2 Preview: Ecommerce Growth May Be Overshadowed By AWS Momentum Again Positive Sentiment: UBS maintained a Buy rating and cited continued AWS strength and better online-retail profitability. Erste Group also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate to $10.11 from $9.99, although UBS reduced its price target to $305 from $333. Amazon heads into Q2 earnings with UBS bullish on cloud growth and e-commerce margins Positive Sentiment: AWS continues to secure demand from AI customers, including a reported $400 million compute agreement with Recursive Superintelligence. Amazon is also seeking approval for 5,105 satellites to expand its Kuiper direct-to-device connectivity service, adding a potential long-term growth opportunity. Recursive Superintelligence signs $400 compute deal with Amazon Neutral Sentiment: Options markets imply an unusually large potential move following earnings, with investors focused on AWS growth, free cash flow, AI infrastructure returns, and management’s capital-spending outlook. Amazon stock could swing $15 after Q2 earnings Neutral Sentiment: Amazon’s Prime Video expansion into exclusive NHL playoff games in Canada and its satellite ambitions broaden the company’s ecosystem, but neither initiative is expected to materially affect near-term earnings. Negative Sentiment: Amazon reportedly plans to spend about $200 billion on capital expenditures in 2026 and recently raised $25 billion through bond issuance to fund AI data-center expansion. Higher future infrastructure costs prompted UBS and Mizuho to lower their price targets, increasing pressure on margins and cash flow. Negative Sentiment: The company is reportedly winding down several Nova AI models and reorganizing its AI teams after layoffs, raising questions about execution and whether Amazon’s large AI investment is producing competitive products quickly enough. Amazon winds down most flagship AI models in strategy overhaul Negative Sentiment: Short sellers have increased bearish positions in Amazon and other hyperscalers ahead of earnings. The broader selloff in semiconductors and megacap technology is amplifying concerns that elevated AI spending may not generate sufficient near-term returns. Amazon.com Stock Performance NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $226.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.18. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.00 and a 52-week high of $278.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $236.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.46.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. The business had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. Analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $239,770.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 484,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,175,038.79. This represents a 0.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total transaction of $4,074,007.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,729,480.60. The trade was a 52.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 136,719 shares of company stock worth $36,703,652. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several analysts have issued reports on the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $319.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $313.43.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Amazon.com

Amazon.com Profile (Free Report)

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Amazon.com Why SK hynix Could Be the Best AI Chip Stock to Buy Now Seagate Technology Stock Surges as Earnings Beat Silences AI Doubters Alphabet Is Down 18% From Its High After a Stellar Quarter—Overdone, or More Downside Ahead? Why Bloom Energy May Be the Most Important AI Infrastructure Stock Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMZN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report).

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Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 30th, 2026

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC reduced its stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,437,101 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 169,498 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up approximately 1.6% of Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $934,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MilWealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 79.0% during the 4th quarter. MilWealth Group LLC now owns 179 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 900.0% in the 4th quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 200 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 95.6% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 221 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Amazon.com by 87.7% in the fourth quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. now owns 229 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amazon.com Price Performance Shares of AMZN opened at $226.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.07, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $246.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.06. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.00 and a twelve month high of $278.56.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The business had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com In related news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total transaction of $4,074,007.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,159 shares in the company, valued at $3,729,480.60. This trade represents a 52.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.42, for a total transaction of $5,268,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,205,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $581,042,879.72. This represents a 0.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 136,719 shares of company stock worth $36,703,652. 8.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amazon.com News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect another strong quarter from Amazon Web Services, with forecasts calling for approximately 31%–33% year-over-year AWS revenue growth. Investors are also watching for improving e-commerce margins and advertising momentum. Amazon Q2 Preview: Ecommerce Growth May Be Overshadowed By AWS Momentum Again Positive Sentiment: UBS maintained a Buy rating and cited continued AWS strength and better online-retail profitability. Erste Group also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate to $10.11 from $9.99, although UBS reduced its price target to $305 from $333. Amazon heads into Q2 earnings with UBS bullish on cloud growth and e-commerce margins Positive Sentiment: AWS continues to secure demand from AI customers, including a reported $400 million compute agreement with Recursive Superintelligence. Amazon is also seeking approval for 5,105 satellites to expand its Kuiper direct-to-device connectivity service, adding a potential long-term growth opportunity. Recursive Superintelligence signs $400 compute deal with Amazon Neutral Sentiment: Options markets imply an unusually large potential move following earnings, with investors focused on AWS growth, free cash flow, AI infrastructure returns, and management’s capital-spending outlook. Amazon stock could swing $15 after Q2 earnings Neutral Sentiment: Amazon’s Prime Video expansion into exclusive NHL playoff games in Canada and its satellite ambitions broaden the company’s ecosystem, but neither initiative is expected to materially affect near-term earnings. Negative Sentiment: Amazon reportedly plans to spend about $200 billion on capital expenditures in 2026 and recently raised $25 billion through bond issuance to fund AI data-center expansion. Higher future infrastructure costs prompted UBS and Mizuho to lower their price targets, increasing pressure on margins and cash flow. Negative Sentiment: The company is reportedly winding down several Nova AI models and reorganizing its AI teams after layoffs, raising questions about execution and whether Amazon’s large AI investment is producing competitive products quickly enough. Amazon winds down most flagship AI models in strategy overhaul Negative Sentiment: Short sellers have increased bearish positions in Amazon and other hyperscalers ahead of earnings. The broader selloff in semiconductors and megacap technology is amplifying concerns that elevated AI spending may not generate sufficient near-term returns. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts have recently commented on AMZN shares. TD Securities upgraded Amazon.com to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. New Street Research lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $280.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Fifty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $313.43.

View Our Latest Research Report on AMZN

Amazon.com Profile (Free Report)

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.

Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Amazon.com Why SK hynix Could Be the Best AI Chip Stock to Buy Now Seagate Technology Stock Surges as Earnings Beat Silences AI Doubters Alphabet Is Down 18% From Its High After a Stellar Quarter—Overdone, or More Downside Ahead? Why Bloom Energy May Be the Most Important AI Infrastructure Stock Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMZN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report).

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Federal safety regulators have given Zoox a temporary exemption that will allow the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle technology company to charge customers for rides in its custom-built robotaxi.

The exemption from certain federal motor vehicle safety standards, which was announced Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was one of the last remaining regulatory hurdles Zoox needed to clear before launching a commercial robotaxi service.

The decision was also published in the federal register.

Zoox custom-built vehicles lack many of the traditional controls required under federal law. For instance, the company’s autonomous vehicles do not have steering wheels or pedals. The agency is providing an exemption for eight federal motor vehicles standards, including windshield defrosting and light vehicle braking systems.

Nearly a year ago, NHTSA gave Zoox an exemption that allowed it to demonstrate its robotaxis on public roads, and even give rides to passengers in cities like San Francisco and Las Vegas. But the company couldn’t charge customers for those rides.

This new exemption comes with a few guardrails. It limits Zoox’s commercial fleet up to 2,500 vehicles annually for two years. The company will also be subject to what the agency described as an “enhanced, adaptable oversight structure that can evolve as Zoox’s technology advances.”

A Zoox spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company will soon begin charging for its service, first in Las Vegas. Additional markets will follow as the company completes state level requirements for commercialization, the company said. In California, where Zoox is headquartered, tests its AVs, and provides passengers with free rides, the company still needs driverless deployment permits from the state Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Zoox CEO Aicha Evans said the day marks an important milestone for the company and the future of autonomous mobility.

“We are honored to receive the first-ever commercial exemption for a purpose-built robotaxi from NHTSA, enabling us to begin charging for our service and take another step toward bringing autonomous ride-hailing to more communities,” Evans said in a statement.  

The Zoox news was part of a series of autonomous vehicle technology announcements made Thursday by the federal agency, including an update to the exemption process that allows automakers to temporarily sell a limited number of non-compliant vehicles, primarily to test new technologies.

The NHTSA said it is updating the exemption process to allow automakers to temporarily sell a limited number of non-compliant vehicles, primarily to test new technologies.

The agency also said it was partnering with SAE Industry Technologies Consortia, which will fund a three-year, $5 million consortium to gather data and accelerate creation of AV performance standards. The aim of the project, according to NHTSA, is to create a single national standard for AV safety.

NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said in a statement that the agency supports the safe development and deployment of automated vehicles.

“By removing unnecessary barriers to innovation, developing industry guidance, and providing strong enforcement oversight while we create performance requirements, NHTSA is taking a balanced approach to AV regulation,” he said. “These advancements will ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in AV technology in a safe and responsible manner.”

The NHTSA also said Thursday it was reviewing an exemption application from Los Angeles-based startup Robomart for its low-speed driverless vehicle. The startup developed an autonomous delivery vehicle that can hold up to 500 pounds of goods. NHTSA said it will publish a separate notice seeking public comment on its merits once the initial evaluation is complete. 

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Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.

You can contact or verify outreach from Kirsten by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at kkorosec.07 on Signal.

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Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) at $247.23 looks attractively priced, with a base case pointing to meaningful upside through the end of 2026. The stock trades roughly 13% below its 52-week high while AWS posts its fastest growth in years, a setup that rarely lasts once the market catches up.

Amazon runs the largest cloud platform through AWS, the most-visited e-commerce marketplace, and a fast-growing advertising business doing more than $70 billion in trailing revenue. Shares have been pinned in a range this year as fundamentals reaccelerated, largely because investors debate whether roughly $200 billion planned 2026 capex will earn its cost of capital.

Why AI Capex Panic Has Created an Entry Point The bull case starts with valuation. Amazon trades at a trailing P/E of 29 and a forward P/E of 29, well below its historical premium, with EV/EBITDA of just 14. Q1 2026 delivered EPS of $2.78 versus $1.73 consensus, a fifth straight beat, on revenue of $181.52 billion, up 16.6% year over year.

AWS grew 28% at a 37.7% operating margin, its best pace in 15 quarters, with landmark Trainium commitments from OpenAI (roughly 2 GW) and Anthropic (up to 5 GW). Custom silicon has cleared a $20 billion annual run rate and is growing triple digits. Wall Street’s target sits at $314.23, implying roughly 27% upside from current levels.

The Cash Flow and Capex Overhang The bear case is real. Trailing free cash flow collapsed 95% to just $1.2 billion as capex ballooned, with Q1 alone consuming $44.2 billion. Long-term debt jumped to $119.1 billion from $65.6 billion, and interest expense rose to $800 million.

Bears flag that Q1 net income surged partly on a $16.80 billion non-recurring Anthropic mark-up. Insiders have been net sellers across 73 recent transactions, and retail chatter has flagged AI overcapacity risk, with bearish sentiment at 32.

The Argument for Sitting on Your Hands The neutral view is that Amazon is a strong business trading at a reasonable price, but the payoff is timing-dependent. Polymarket traders assign near-parity odds to a July close at $264 (48.5%) versus $232 (47.5%).

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Key catalysts are the July 30 earnings report, where the crowd assigns a 93.5% beat probability, plus 2027 AWS backlog conversion and any signal that free cash flow has troughed.

What the Numbers Actually Say Amazon trades at $247.23 against a consensus target of $314.23. Of 66 covering analysts, 15 rate it Strong Buy, 47 Buy, 4 Hold, with zero Sells.

Shares are up 7.11% year to date and 10.43% over the trailing year, roughly in line with the S&P 500’s mid-single-digit YTD gain but lagging the broader tech sector. That relative underperformance against 74.8% YoY earnings growth is the mispricing.

Why $247 Looks Like a Compelling Entry Level At $247, the risk/reward skews favorably.

The path to appreciation runs through AWS reacceleration and margin expansion. Q2 guidance calls for $194 to $199 billion in revenue, 16% to 19% growth, with operating income of $20 to $24 billion. Trainium2 is fully subscribed and Trainium3 is nearly committed by mid-2026, so the 2027 revenue ramp from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other hyperscaler customers is contractually locked.

Capex fear is overdone. The market punishes Amazon for spending against demand already booked, which is the wrong reaction. A base case fair value near $276 by year-end and a bull case toward $288 both look reachable if Q2 clears guidance.

What would invalidate the thesis: AWS deceleration below 20%, evidence Trainium bookings are slipping, or a broader recession pressuring Stores where unit growth just hit 15%. Absent that, this is a mega-cap compounder trading like a value stock with a contracted AI backlog attached.

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The move is a first for a purpose-built autonomous vehicle like Zoox, which doesn't have pedals or a steering wheel.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) will release its second quarter earnings report after the closing bell on Thursday, July 30.

Analysts expect the Seattle, Washington-based company to report quarterly earnings of $1.82 per share, up from $1.68 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Amazon’s quarterly revenue is $196.25 billion. It reported $167.7 billion last year, according to Benzinga Pro.

The company has beaten analyst estimates for revenue in seven straight quarters and in nine of the last 10 quarters overall.

Shares of Amazon fell 1.8% to close at $226.65 on Wednesday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company name, analyst firm, rating change or other variables.

Let’s have a look at how Benzinga’s most-accurate analysts have rated the company in the recent period.

Considering buying AMZN stock? Here’s what analysts think:

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Analysts expect the e-commerce giant to report Q2 revenue of $196.02 billion, up from $167.70 billion in last year’s Q2, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company has beaten analyst estimates for revenue in seven straight quarters and in nine of the last 10 quarters overall.

Analysts expect Amazon Q2 earnings per share of $1.82, up from $1.68 in last year’s Q2.

The Seattle-based company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in nine of the last 10 quarters. Guidance calls for revenue to be between $194 billion and $199 billion. The company did not provide earnings per share guidance.

Amazon Analyst RatingsHere are some of the most recent analyst ratings on Amazon.com stock and their price targets:

UBS: Maintained Buy rating, lowered price target from $333 to $305 BMO Capital: Maintained Outperform rating, raised price target from $355 to $360 Mizuho: Maintained Outperform rating, lowered price target from $325 to $320 Wedbush: Maintained Outperform rating, with $293 price target Wells Fargo: Maintained Overweight rating, raised price target from $313 to $322 Amazon Q2: Key Items to WatchAmazon posted double-digit revenue growth of 17% year-over-year in the first quarter, with the main segments of North America (+12%), International (+19%) and Amazon Web Services (+28%) all seeing double-digit growth.

AWS has been a standout performer in recent quarters, also posting revenue growth of 24% in the fourth quarter. The company said AWS growth in the first quarter was the fastest growth in 15 quarters.

The cloud segment is getting closer to passing International revenue and becoming the second-largest revenue driver each quarter.

AWS will be a key focus area for investors and analysts.

Another key will be any commentary on AI spending and AI monetization as the big technology companies look to show that their large capex is paying off in areas like revenue and margins.

Prime Video Bets On Blockbusters And Live SportsThe company’s Prime Video segment saw "Project Hail Mary" as a box office hit in March and likely into Q2.

"Masters of the Universe" didn’t perform as hot in theaters, with $113.8 million in global box office.

The hit show "Off Campus" saw huge viewership in the month of May, as did the final season of "The Boys."

NBA and NBA Playoffs coverage by Prime Video in April could also help boost overall advertising revenue for the company with live sports content being a key driver for this area.

Amazon is one of four Magnificent Seven stocks reporting this week and is also a key component of the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. Here is Amazon’s place in three ETFs that track those indexes:

Strong earnings and guidance, along with a positive reaction to capex by investors, could provide a boost for those ETFs and the overall market.

Price ActionAmazon stock is up 0.4% to $231.82 on Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $196.00 to $278.56. The stock price is up 2.4% year-to-date in 2026.

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Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is set to report its second quarter 2026 results on July 30, with UBS lowering its price target to $305 from $333 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating as it expects continued strength from Amazon Web Services and improving e-commerce profitability.

The UBS analysts wrote that the price target reduction reflects expectations for higher capital expenditures in 2027 and beyond due to rising component costs and increased demand for infrastructure.

The analysts also adjusted near-term AWS revenue expectations after moving OpenAI’s initial use of Amazon’s Trainium chips from the fourth quarter of 2026 into early 2027, shifting approximately $3 billion in revenue out of this year.

Despite the near-term adjustment, UBS highlighted AWS as a key driver of its bullish outlook, noting that it believes the market is underestimating the cloud unit’s backlog and revenue growth potential in the second half of 2026 and into 2027.

UBS forecasts AWS revenue growth of 36% in 2026, ahead of the Street estimate of 31%, and expects growth of 48% in 2027 compared with consensus expectations of 30%.

The analysts wrote that its largest divergence from consensus remains Amazon’s 2027 operating income outlook, which UBS estimates will be approximately 49% above current Street expectations.

UBS’s investment thesis is centered on continued AWS growth acceleration as Amazon expands capacity, alongside potential market share gains in e-commerce driven by improving service levels, including broader same-day delivery and increased investment in groceries.

The firm also expects improving unit economics to support faster margin expansion in Amazon’s retail business, as growth in units sold continues to outpace cost growth. In addition, UBS pointed to Amazon’s Prime Video advertising opportunity, highlighting the potential for higher-margin revenue growth as the service scales globally through partnerships and live sports offerings.

UBS maintained its ‘Buy’ rating, writing that Amazon’s valuation remains attractive, with the stock trading at around 14 times its updated 2027 earnings estimate. The firm argued that a premium asset such as Amazon should not trade at a discount to the broader market multiple.

The revised $305 price target, which implies upside from current levels of about $228, is based on a 30 times price-to-free cash flow multiple applied to UBS’s estimate of $109.9 billion in free cash flow from the third quarter of 2027 through the second quarter of 2028.

Amazon (AMZN), a major technology company operating cloud-computing and online-retail businesses, fell approximately 1.1% in Wednesday's regular-session trading

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Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL | GOOGL Price Prediction) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) both closed Q1 FY2026 with blockbuster AI infrastructure disclosures. Alphabet is already converting compute into ad and cloud dollars, while Amazon is still pouring concrete for the 2027 wave of Trainium capacity tied to OpenAI and Anthropic. Comparing them now clarifies who earns the capex back first.

Search Ads Print Cash. AWS Books the 2027 Backlog. Alphabet posted revenue of $109.90 billion, up 21.8% YoY, with Search & Other at $60.4 billion and Google Cloud up 63% to $20.03 billion. EPS came in at $5.11 versus a $2.63 consensus. That is a decisive beat, and the ad engine did the heavy lifting.

Amazon delivered $181.52 billion in revenue, up 16.61%, with AWS at $37.587 billion, growing 28%, its fastest growth in 15 quarters. The custom chips business now runs at a $20 billion revenue run rate, growing triple digits. Impressive, but the biggest committed workloads (OpenAI’s 2 GW of Trainium) do not start until 2027.

One Monetizes Now. One Builds for Later. CFO Anat Ashkenazi raised Alphabet’s 2026 capex guide to $180 billion to $190 billion and flagged that “2027 CapEx to significantly increase compared to 2026.” Yet Sundar Pichai says Gemini has already cut core AI response costs by more than 30%, and enterprise GenAI revenue grew nearly 800% year over year. Cloud backlog sits at $462 billion, with roughly 50% converting to revenue in the next 24 months.

Andy Jassy is playing a longer game. He guided to ~$200 billion in 2026 capex across AI, chips, robotics, and Kuiper satellites, and TTM free cash flow fell to $1.2 billion, a 95% drop. Long-term debt jumped to $119.1 billion from $65.6 billion. Big bets, ugly cash math today.

Lens Alphabet Amazon Core Bet Gemini in Search ads Trainium capacity for hyperscale AI 2026 Capex Guide $180B to $190B ~$200B ROI Timing Now, via ad coverage 2027, once Trainium fills The Next Test Is Cash Flow Discipline I will watch Alphabet’s FCF, which fell to $10.12 billion, down 46.63%, to see if ad monetization can outrun depreciation. For Amazon, Q2 guidance of $194B to $199B in revenue and Trainium3 supply commitments matter more than the retail earnings report. Polymarket assigns a 97.7% probability Alphabet beats Q2 earnings and a 93.5% probability Amazon beats.

Why I Lean Google Through Year End, Then Rotate Personally, I side with the Google-wins-2026 thesis. The ad stack turns TPU spend into cash inside quarters, not years, and shares are up 89.43% over the past year. Amazon’s 7.11% YTD reflects that patience penalty. If OpenAI actually lights up 2 GW of Trainium in early 2027, I would rotate. Until then, Alphabet’s capital velocity looks tough to beat.

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Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 29th, 2026

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC reduced its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,476 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 2,225 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up about 2.2% of Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $31,756,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AMZN. MilWealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 79.0% in the 4th quarter. MilWealth Group LLC now owns 179 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 200 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 221 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 87.7% in the fourth quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. now owns 229 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms have commented on AMZN. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Maxim Group upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 target price (down from $350.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Fifty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $313.43.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on AMZN

Amazon.com Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $230.86 on Wednesday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.00 and a twelve month high of $278.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $247.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $236.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The company had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current year.

Key Amazon.com News Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

Positive Sentiment: Amazon Web Services received several new business boosts. AI company Recursive Superintelligence announced a $400 million AWS compute agreement, while Ryanair extended its AWS AI partnership. These deals support the view that accelerating cloud and AI demand could help justify Amazon’s large infrastructure investments. Recursive Superintelligence AWS deal Positive Sentiment: Amazon is expanding potential growth markets. Prime Video will carry exclusive NHL playoff games in Canada, and Amazon Leo is seeking approval for as many as 5,105 satellites to provide direct-to-device voice and data services beginning in 2028. The satellite initiative, supported by Amazon’s planned Globalstar acquisition, could broaden its connectivity opportunity but will require substantial investment. Amazon satellite network Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reportedly sees a sizable mark-to-market gain from Amazon’s approximately $13 billion Anthropic stake, offering a potential valuation boost when results are released. Analysts remain broadly bullish; Mizuho lowered its target modestly to $320 while retaining an outperform rating. Amazon’s Anthropic stake Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is reportedly winding down many Nova AI models and reorganizing its AI teams around a new frontier-model effort. Management may be reallocating resources toward a more competitive product, but the change also raises questions about execution and the returns on prior AI spending. Amazon AI strategy overhaul Negative Sentiment: Options markets imply an unusually large move of about 6.9% around earnings. Investors will focus on AWS growth, operating margins, free cash flow, Prime Day effects and whether Amazon raises its already-heavy capital-spending outlook. Short sellers are also increasing positions ahead of the report, reflecting elevated downside risk. Amazon earnings volatility Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.53, for a total value of $2,489,273.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,060,750.70. This trade represents a 18.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 31,352 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $8,621,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,175,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $598,335,650. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 140,425 shares of company stock valued at $37,715,464 in the last quarter. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Amazon.com Company Profile (Free Report)

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.

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Two of the most independent-minded money managers on Wall Street, Bill Ackman and David Tepper, arrived at the same conclusion in the first quarter of 2026: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) belongs at the top of the portfolio. According to Q1 2026 13F filings dated March 31 and filed May 15, Ackman’s Pershing Square held Amazon at roughly 17.4% of its portfolio, while Tepper’s Appaloosa held it at roughly 15.2%, with Tepper nearly doubling his share count quarter-over-quarter.

Two managers, very different playbooks, one name over-weighted.

What They Bought and Why It Matters Ackman runs a concentrated book of eight to 12 quality compounders. Tepper is a distressed-and-macro trader who rotates aggressively. When both allocate more than 15% of capital to the same mega-cap, the signal cuts through style bias. Notably, Berkshire Hathaway exited its Amazon stake last quarter, so the signal here comes from two operators independently sizing Amazon as their highest-conviction name at a moment when consensus is nervous about hyperscaler capital spending. Keep in mind, 13F data is point-in-time and does not necessarily reflect current positioning.

The Underlying Thesis The numbers support the sizing. In Q1 FY2026, reported April 29, Amazon delivered EPS of $2.78 versus a $1.73 estimate, revenue of $181.52 billion, up 16.6% year-over-year, and operating income of $23.85 billion, up 29.6%. AWS grew 28%, its fastest pace in 15 quarters, at a 37.7% operating margin. The custom silicon business (Graviton, Trainium, Nitro) crossed a $20 billion annual run rate with triple-digit growth, and advertising reached over $70 billion trailing twelve-month revenue. Stores unit growth of 15% was the strongest since COVID-19.

The forward pull is Trainium. OpenAI has committed to roughly 2 GW of Trainium capacity starting in 2027, and Anthropic up to 5 GW. That is the crux of the bull case: if frontier models commoditize, the infrastructure layer wins. As one AI investing podcast framed it, “if everything becomes a commodity, that just makes AWS even more valuable.”

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CEO Andy Jassy summed up the composite growth story: “AWS is growing 28% (our fastest growth in 15 quarters) on a very large base, our chips business topped a $20 billion revenue run rate (growing triple digits year-over-year), Advertising grew to over $70 billion in TTM revenue, and unit growth in our Stores reached 15%.”

What This Means for Retail Investors The risks are real. CapEx hit $44.2 billion in Q1 alone, trailing free cash flow fell 95% to $1.2 billion, and long-term debt rose to $119.1 billion from $65.6 billion. The $16.8 billion pre-tax Anthropic gain that lifted net income is non-recurring. This is exactly the tension Reddit is chewing on, with bearish posts about hyperscaler overinvestment offsetting a bullish sentiment score of 78/100 as of July 7.

On July 28, shares traded around $231.13 against a P/E of 33, up nearly 11% since the March 31 filing date. The verdict: This is a follow-worthy signal for retirement-focused investors already comfortable with mega-cap tech, precisely because two managers with opposite temperaments underwrote the same margin and AI-infrastructure thesis. It is a reason to study Amazon at current levels, not a reason to chase.

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Amazon (AMZN -0.19%) is set to report its second-quarter earnings on Thursday, July 30, and expectations are high, especially for the AWS cloud services business. For example, analysts at Bank of America recently raised their AWS growth forecast to 33% year-over-year, specifically calling out demand from Anthropic and OpenAI workloads.

This would be a significant acceleration from the 28% growth rate the commerce and tech giant reported in the first quarter and would likely be taken as a positive sign by investors. But I'm going to make the bold prediction that even these lofty expectations aren't enough -- in fact, I predict that AWS revenue growth could come in at 35% or more.

Image source: Getty Images.

Amazon's second-quarter earnings: What the market expects As mentioned, Amazon reports earnings on Thursday (after the market's close), and analysts expect about $197 billion in total revenue and $1.82 in earnings per share, which would be 8% higher than a year ago.

When it comes to AWS, expectations vary depending on who you ask, but virtually all analysts expect to see acceleration compared to the first quarter. Most reputable analyst forecasts expect AWS revenue growth in the 31%-33% range.

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So, why am I predicting an even better number? For one thing, I agree that the demand from Anthropic and OpenAI is likely to be a big driver of second-quarter growth. And AWS revenue growth has already been accelerating -- in fact, the 28% revenue growth rate AWS posted in the first quarter was the fastest in nearly four years.

The most important number isn't AWS top line growth Don't get me wrong. If AWS posts a blowout number, it could make or break the market's reaction to Amazon's earnings report. But the AWS growth all by itself isn't the full story -- it's how efficiently Amazon is spending its money to achieve said growth.

In February, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy guided for $200 billion in capex for 2026, most of which will be spent on AI infrastructure. And while Amazon can certainly afford to spend this money, the big question on investors' minds has been whether it will produce an adequate return for the company. In other words, will the growth (and profits) that Amazon produces justify such a large price tag?

To put it mildly, accelerating AWS growth would be a big step in the right direction, showing investors that the juice is worth the squeeze. And if AWS can report better-than-expected growth without an alarming increase in projected capex, it would be even better. But when the earnings report is released, it will be important to pay close attention to AWS's growth and the cost of that growth.

Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia's biggest online retailer Wildberries have ratcheted up the pressure on Moscow's wartime economy, with Kyiv seeking to force President Vladimir Putin back to the negotiating table after nearly four-and-a-half years of war.

Ukraine has been targeting major logistics centers, such as Russia's Amazon-style retail giant, as part of a push to severely disrupt the country's supply chains and increase the financial burden facing Russian banks and businesses.

It marks a significant change in approach for Ukrainian forces, following months of long-range drone strikes targeting Russian energy infrastructure.

Wildberries evacuated a warehouse in the central Russian city of Ryazan on Wednesday morning, the company said, after Ukrainian drones struck several industrial facilities.

The Russian government has acknowledged it may need to prop up Wildberries, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing two unnamed sources, with state-controlled bank VTB expected to play a key role. Russia's Foreign Ministry was not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Russian businesses have faced numerous disruptions due to the war, according to Natalya Kovaleva, a researcher in the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House.

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"Western sanctions fractured supply chains. Tax increases squeezed margins. Internet blackouts disrupted operations. And recent fuel shortages drove up costs while adding to inflationary pressures," Kovaleva said Tuesday in an online post.

"Russia's business owners have largely absorbed these shocks. But Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries present a significant new development, reflecting Kyiv's broader effort to ratchet up economic pressure on business and ordinary Russians."

Kovaleva said Ukraine's hope is that by raising the cost of war for Russian businesses, internal opposition will mount and Putin may be forced to the negotiating table — or at least halt his bombardment of Ukraine's cities.

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"It remains to be seen if this strategy will have the desired effect. Even as it becomes even harder to do business in Russia, the country's elites appear more dependent on – and wary of – the Kremlin [than] ever before," Kovaleva said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that warehouses targeted by Ukrainian drones were involved in providing Russian forces with drone components, navigation equipment and other military components.

Wildberries is Russia's biggest online retailer and its equivalent to U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon. Founded in 2004, the company currently employs about 48,000 people.

'Russia is vulnerable'Alongside Ukrainian attacks on Russian logistics hubs, analysts have warned that Russia's economy is potentially vulnerable to the prospect of sweeping U.S. sanctions.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he had discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and the importance of reinvigorating the diplomatic process during what he described as a "good meeting" with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Oval Office.

The meeting took place at a time when the U.S war against Iran and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine have both reached critical junctures. Trump has paused airstrikes against Iran as part of a push to give diplomacy another chance, while Zelenskyy has been galvanized by a flurry of deep-strike successes on Russian territory.

The Trump-Zelenskyy meeting also coincided with a renewed congressional push to tighten sanctions on Moscow, with legislation championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham passing its first Senate hurdle.

"The Russian economy has stalled," Elina Ribakova, senior fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics, told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition" on Wednesday.

"It will have growth of zero percent this year — at best, we have seen contraction of the economy in the first quarter and industrial output contraction as well. Industrial output contraction means that also the defense sector has decelerated meaningfully. So, Russia is vulnerable."

Ribakova said Russian energy sanctions legislation had the potential to be "extremely impactful" to Putin's wartime economy, particularly at a time when the Russia and Iran conflicts appear to be converging.

Kyiv on Saturday launched an attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, an incident which Tehran said left one sailor dead and injured several others. The Islamic Republic has threatened retaliation over the strike.

"What is giving it a boost is again this connection with Iran," Ribakova said. The fact that Iran is able to close the Strait of Hormuz is boosting oil prices and, of course, giving Russia another way to continue fighting in Ukraine, she added.

It's Amazon's (AMZN -0.19%) turn to step up to the earnings podium. The online retailer founded by Jeff Bezos is expected to show strong growth in its cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services, and is likely to increase its planned $200 billion capital expenditure budget as memory and storage products become more expensive.

I'm fully expecting Amazon to post solid second-quarter earnings on Thursday, July 30. But considering that investors seem to have the yips right now about spiraling data center costs, I expect the stock to drop due to capital expenditure growth and shrinking free cash flow. Yet there's one item that certainly will cause investors to smile: the company's massive gains from its stake in the start-up AI company Anthropic.

Amazon was an early investor in Anthropic, the company behind Claude, and put $13 billion in with the option to invest $20 billion more. That $13 billion stake is now worth much more, given that Anthropic is considering going public at a valuation of around $1 trillion. In a research note, Bank of America analysts point to Amazon's stake in Anthropic as a significant driver in its upcoming earnings report, generating a strong mark-to-market gain.

Let's see how Amazon's stake in Anthropic has grown, and what investors should be looking for in Amazon's Q2 update.

Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos. Image source: Amazon.

Amazon is winning big with Anthropic Amazon's investment in Anthropic includes an initial $8 billion investment in 2024, followed by another $5 billion in 2026. Published reports indicate that Amazon has 21% stake in the AI company.

However, at the end of the first quarter, Amazon valued its Anthropic stake at $74.2 billion -- $42.2 billion in convertible notes and $32 billion in nonvoting preferred stock. That would imply Anthropic had a value at that time of about $353.3 billion.

Last month, Anthropic filed a confidential IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission that places Anthropic's value at $965 billion. That would push the value of Amazon's 21% stake to $202.6 billion.

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Putting Amazon's gains into perspective In the first quarter, Amazon reported net income of $30.25 billion -- a solid number, with much of that coming from its fast-growing Amazon Web Services. But it could be looking at a much larger gain -- on paper -- in this quarter just from its Anthropic stake, which appears set to increase by $128.4 billion in a single quarter.

That would certainly take the sting out of any dip in Amazon's stock price post-earnings. Big tech stocks have been hammered so far this week on fears of overspending on data centers and AI infrastructure, with Alphabet stock dropping 6% post-earnings after it raised its capex spending from $185 billion to $200 billion. Tesla fell even further after reporting a negative free cash flow of $1.1 billion for the quarter.

Amazon may suffer the same fate when it reports earnings. But investors who focus only on capex will miss the bigger picture. Anthropic's rapid growth is creating tremendous value for Amazon, and in the July 30 earnings report, investors may learn that its stake in the AI start-up is one of its most valuable assets.

Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Patrick Sanders has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Amazon.com (AMZN, Financials), the e-commerce and cloud computing corporation, is rejigging its artificial intelligence strategy by winding down a number of mar

Amazon.com (AMZN), a global e-commerce, cloud-computing and digital-services company, is reportedly overhauling its artificial-intelligence strategy by winding

AMZN heads into Q2 2026 earnings with AWS growth, Prime Day timing and ad momentum in focus as investors weigh AI spending against margins.

By PYMNTS  |  July 28, 2026

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Amazon is reportedly phasing out several in-house artificial intelligence (AI) models in a larger AI overhaul.

The tech giant is also reorganizing teams and having engineers focus on a new strategy that involves competing at the frontier level, Business Insider reported Tuesday (July 28), citing sources familiar with the matter.

The report noted that these changes follow job cuts last week at Amazon’s Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) division and the closure of AGI Lab, a research group it launched in 2024 after hiring most of the team at AI startup Adept.

Business Insider argued this restructuring indicates Amazon is refocusing its AI strategy, concentrating talent and computing resources on its largest priorities, rather than investing in text, image and video models.

Sources told the news outlet that Amazon has started phasing out most of its in-house flagship Nova models, such as the high-end Premier and Omni models, Reel video-generation model, and Canvas image-generation model.

Some employees said these models are now in “KTLO” (“keep the lights on”) mode, an engineering term for software that still supports existing customers but is not considered a chief development priority, the Business Insider report added.

According to the publication’s sources, Amazon is shifting resources from its Nova models and toward a new frontier-model effort overseen by researcher Pieter Abbeel, who joined Amazon when it acquired Covariant, the AI robotics startup he helped found.

In a statement provided to PYMNTS, Amazon said it continues to invest and support the Nova models, including Nova Forge, which allows businesses to build their own models.

“As with any AI portfolio, we continually evolve our model lineup based on what customers need, and we always provide customers clear guidance and migration paths as models advance,” the company said. “We generally support our models in production for extended periods because this is important to our customers. We’re also investing in the next generation of frontier model research, and Amazon’s commitment to building advanced AI models is as strong as it’s ever been.”

The news follows a report from Reuters last week that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was calling for a revamp of the Prime Video streaming service to offer users a better idea of the company’s AI capabilities.

In other Amazon news, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research shows that an increasing number of consumers took part in the company’s recent shopping event—and that of rival Walmart—even as spending on both events fell.

“That trade-off offers a preview of the next phase of promotional retail,” PYMNTS wrote last week. “The biggest shopping events may attract more people than ever, but they are also becoming less capable of concentrating consumer spending in one place.”

On Tuesday, the AI company Recursive Superintelligence announced a $400 million compute deal with Amazon Web Services. The company, which emerged from stealth in May with $650 million in funding, is focused on building open-ended self-improving systems, a potentially compute-intensive approach to AI research. This multi-year deal is meant to provide flexibility as the company looks to scale up those systems.

Recursive’s $410 million outlay represents the bulk of the company’s fundraising to date— but on a call with TechCrunch, Socher emphasized that he expected it to be the first of many such deals. Today’s announcement is “likely going to be one of the smallest compute deals we’re going to sign in the next few years,” Socher said.

Recursive’s emphasis on self-improving AI systems means much of the budget that would traditionally go towards headcount and operations is put straight into compute, as the company seeks to automate its own product development process. 

“For us, it’s less about headcount and more about agent count,” Socher said.

There’s no investment component to Amazon’s involvement, in contrast to major labs’ habit of hybrid investment arrangements. But the sheer scale of the commitment allows AWS to commit significant resources to supporting Recursive’s unique needs, which may help to draw in other foundation-level AI companies going forward.

“Part of the agreement is that we’re going to co-develop infrastructure purpose-built for these types of company,” said Jason Bennett, VP for startups and venture capital at AWS.

Recursive self-improvement (RSI) has long been seen as an inflection point for AI, with some expecting an explosion of progress once AI can be improved without human involvement. But as more labs and companies pursue the idea, the specific requirements have become ambiguous, with some predicting an imminent breakthrough while others characterize self-improvement as more of a continuum.

But in Recursive’s case, the goal is to use the powers of RSI to develop actual products — and Socher expects to be releasing the earliest examples before the end of the year.

“We are excited to build like really amazing products that people can use, and you will see those within a few months, not within a few quarters or years,” Socher says. “In October or so, you’ll see some actually tangible, useful things that you’ll be able to play around with.”

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Russell Brandom has been covering the tech industry since 2012, with a focus on platform policy and emerging technologies. He previously worked at The Verge and Rest of World, and has written for Wired, The Awl and MIT’s Technology Review. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at 412-401-5489.