Amazon Q3 Sales Hit $201.9B but Miss Estimates; Debt Up $78B, Capex Raised to $220B
AMZN sits 15% above its 52-week low of $196 on elevated volume (2.3× avg).
Summary
Amazon's Q3 sales came in at $201.9B, up 12% year over year, with adjusted EPS of $1.89 — both below consensus, following the CNBC report that revenue of $201.94B missed the $202.31B estimate. AWS was the bright spot: revenue of $46.0B, up 39%, and operating income of $17.8B, with consolidated operating income at $28.1B. The balance sheet is the concern. Amazon added roughly $78B of debt in the first nine months of 2026, including about $30B in Q3 alone, and raised its 2026 cash capex forecast to about $220B from $200B on higher memory costs and sustained AI demand through 2027. Trailing-twelve-month free cash flow is negative $42.4B. Management also disclosed a 10-year, $110B AWS pact with Anthropic and an AI-related backlog of $578B, and won FCC approval for its $11.5B Globalstar spectrum deal, which closes in 2027. Q4 revenue guidance of $240-247B is the number to hold; note that most LEO satellite costs will still be expensed in Q4 2026 before capitalization begins in Q1 2027.
At the time of this announcement, AMZN was trading at $225.99 on NASDAQ in the Trade & Services sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.6T. The 52-week trading range was $196.00 to $287.20. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Wiseek News.