Amazon Q3 Earnings Surpass Expectations with Strong AWS and Advertising Performance

Amazon reported third-quarter revenue of $180.2 billion, a 13% year-over-year increase, and earnings per share of $1.95, significantly exceeding analyst estimates of $1.57. The market responded swiftly to the robust results.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) delivered $33 billion in revenue, outpacing projections of $32.42 billion and marking a 20.2% growth from the prior year. CEO Andy Jassy noted AWS is "growing at a pace we haven't seen since 2022," attributing the surge to rising demand for AI infrastructure. The division added over 3.8 gigawatts of capacity in the past 12 months to meet enterprise needs.

Advertising revenue climbed to $17.7 billion, edging past Wall Street's $17.34 billion forecast. Core online stores grew 10%, demonstrating resilient consumer spending despite macroeconomic uncertainties.

While AWS outperforms, competitors Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud posted stronger growth rates of 40% and 34% respectively, intensifying the cloud infrastructure race.