Amazon (AMZN) Q1 earnings report 2026

Amazon on Wednesday posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the first quarter, and reported cloud sales that topped analysts’ expectations.

The stock was up more than 4%, after bouncing around in extended trading.

Here’s how the company did, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $2.78 vs. $1.64
• Revenue: $181.52 vs. $177.30 billion

Wall Street was also looking at other key revenue numbers:

• Amazon Web Services: $37.59 billion vs. $36.64 billion, according to StreetAccount
• Advertising: $17.24 billion vs. $16.87 billion, according to StreetAccount

Revenue in Amazon’s cloud segment increased 28% year over year to $37.59 billion, marking its fastest growth in more than three years. Wall Street had expected AWS sales to grow 26%.

Amazon and other big tech companies have been trying to justify their hefty artificial intelligence spending, which could approach $700 billion in 2026. Amazon in February projected its capital expenditures will reach $200 billion in 2026, a sharp increase from last year.

The company recently announced a host of AI-related deals with OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, which could help ease investor concerns about when its spending will deliver returns, but also suggest Amazon will need to build out even more data centers and infrastructure to meet surging demand.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has also looked to highlight the company’s homegrown chips business as a beneficiary of the AI boom, and it called out the segment near the top of its earnings release.

“We’re in the middle of some of the biggest inflections of our lifetime, we’re well positioned to lead, and I’m very optimistic about what’s ahead for our customers and Amazon,” Jassy said in a statement.

Amazon said capital spending in the first quarter reached $44.2 billion, which was above Wall Street’s projected $43.6 billion, according to FactSet. Meanwhile, its free cash flow for the past twelve months fell to $1.2 billion, a 95% decrease year over year, primarily because of its AI investments, the company said.

The company’s capex spending is also being pushed higher because of its investments in its nascent internet-from-space service, called Leo. Amazon is aiming to begin commercial service in the third quarter of this year, CFO Brian Olsavsky said on a call with investors.

Amazon needs to make enough satellites and book more rocket launches to build out its constellation. Earlier this month, it announced it plans to acquire Globalstar in a deal valued at roughly $11.57 billion.

“They have unusual and scare global spectrum that’s required to provide direct to device,” Jassy told investors on the conference call. “We also really like the satellite knowhow that we’ll get as part of that merger.”

The deal also “afforded us the opportunity to build a deep relationship with Apple,” Jassy said. As part of the deal, Apple, which owns a 20% stake in Globalstar, will use Amazon’s satellites for connectivity for some products.

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