Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported strong third-quarter results on October 29, 2026, with its cloud computing unit, AWS, leading the way. AWS revenue surged more than 39% to $46 billion, marking its fastest growth in nearly five years. The company highlighted the success of its Bedrock inference service, which saw Fortune 500 companies spending nearly seven times as much as last year. Additionally, Amazon's chip business more than doubled, with revenue commitments for Graviton and Trainium increasing over 20-fold year over year.
The company's e-commerce operations also performed well, with North American sales rising 6% and international sales up 5%. Operating income in North American e-commerce surged over 80% to $8.7 billion, while international operating income jumped 33% to $1.6 billion. Despite these gains, advertising revenue growth slowed significantly, growing just 12% compared to 26% in the previous quarter.
Overall, Amazon's revenue climbed 12% year over year to $201.9 billion, slightly missing analyst expectations. Earnings per share fell to $1.89, missing the consensus due to a large gain from its Anthropic investment last year. The company's free cash flow remained negative at $42.4 billion over the trailing 12 months, as it invested heavily in capital expenditures.
Looking ahead, Amazon projected third-quarter revenue growth of between 12.5% and 16%. The company believes AWS could become a $1 trillion business in five to ten years, driven by significant investments in infrastructure. Despite its strong performance, Amazon stock has struggled to gain momentum, rising only modestly in 2026 and around 45% over the past five years.