Amazon Earnings on Deck as Investors Watch Cloud Growth and AI Spending

Amazon is set to report second quarter earnings after market close Thursday, with analysts expecting earnings per share of $1.82 on revenue near $196.47 billion, alongside close attention to cloud performance and capital spending plans.

Cloud Growth in Focus

AWS revenue is projected to grow around 31% year over year, building on last quarter’s strongest pace in years. This comes after rivals posted strong cloud results, with Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure both showing sharp growth recently.

Capital Spending Under Scrutiny

Amazon has maintained guidance near $200 billion in yearly capital expenditures, though some analysts expect that figure to rise given surging AI infrastructure demand, following similar increases from Alphabet and strong investor reaction to Microsoft’s spending plans.

Broader Business Signals

Despite continued AI investment, Amazon has trimmed staff across several divisions this year. The company also shifted its Prime Day event timing, which analysts say could briefly affect near-term retail growth. Shares were trading sharply higher Thursday, up roughly 6%, reflecting strong momentum across major tech earnings this week.