Amazon Edges Towards 52-Week Peak as AWS Backlog Surges

Amazon's shares have edged towards their 52-week peak of $276.29 as investors reassess the company's AI investments following accelerated growth in its cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS). The stock traded at $275.17 in premarket action on Monday, up 1.3% from Friday's close.

AWS backlog increased by $132 billion to reach $496 billion, representing a 36% increase over the previous quarter. This growth has led Amazon to boost its projected capital expenditure for 2026 to $220 billion, an increase of $20 billion from the initial estimate.

Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy stated that the company still lacks sufficient capacity despite increased spending, with nearly all AWS capacity for 2027 booked and some supply for 2028 already reserved by customers. The surge in trading volume on Friday totaled 129.1 million shares, more than two times higher than the 65-day average.

Amazon's operating profit rose more rapidly than revenue in the second quarter, with AWS accounting for 60.5% of operating income and 21.1% of total sales. The company's operating margin climbed to 39.4%, an increase of 6.5 percentage points from a year earlier.