Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $235.50, but opened at $265.00. Amazon.com shares last traded at $267.6630, with a volume of 28,879,419 shares trading hands.

The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $3.93. The business had revenue of $200.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.03 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share.

More Amazon.com News

Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q2 results: Amazon reported $200.6 billion in revenue, up 20% year over year, while adjusted earnings per share of $5.75 substantially exceeded the $1.82 consensus estimate. Operating income increased 43% to $27.5 billion. Amazon.com Announces Second Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: AWS growth eased AI-spending concerns: AWS revenue surged 37% to $42.2 billion, its fastest growth in more than four years, as enterprise AI demand and new arrangements with Meta and OpenAI drove cloud consumption. AWS operating profit reached $16.6 billion, supporting the view that Amazon is beginning to monetize its substantial AI investments. Amazon jumps as AWS growth soothes fears over rising AI spending
• Positive Sentiment: Broad business momentum: North America sales rose 16%, advertising revenue climbed 26% to nearly $20 billion, and Prime Day activity helped support the retail business. Amazon also said AI demand remains strong, with CEO Andy Jassy describing future AWS capacity needs as “striking.” Amazon Thrives On Big Q2 For AI, Advertising Revenue Climbs
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism intensified: JPMorgan raised its price target to $365 from $330 and maintained an Overweight rating. Truist lifted its target to $350 from $320, while Monness Crespi, Rosenblatt, KeyCorp, Baird, Bank of America and other firms also raised or reaffirmed bullish targets. J.P. Morgan raises Amazon price target
• Positive Sentiment: Zoox reached a commercial milestone: Amazon’s autonomous-vehicle unit received approval to begin charging for rides in its purpose-built, steering-wheel-free robotaxis, allowing limited deployment in Las Vegas. The move could create a long-term growth option, although safety advocates questioned the supporting data. Amazon’s Zoox to begin charging for rides in Las Vegas
• Neutral Sentiment: Investment returns remain under scrutiny: Amazon plans approximately $220 billion of 2026 capital spending, largely for AI infrastructure. Management sees demand exceeding available capacity, but the spending weighs on free cash flow and has raised questions about financing and future margins. Amazon will spend $220 billion this year
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term guidance was softer than expected: Amazon forecast third-quarter revenue of $197 billion to $202 billion, below the roughly $204.6 billion analyst consensus, creating a potential offset to the otherwise strong results.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $318.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $239,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 484,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,175,038.79. The trade was a 0.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.38, for a total value of $620,003.94. Following the sale, the vice president owned 119,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,427,876.40. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,719 shares of company stock valued at $36,438,002. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 216,606 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $49,997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,854 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,653,228 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,690,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,275,942 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 39,264 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,063,000 after purchasing an additional 4,713 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 36,485 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $8,421,000 after purchasing an additional 3,196 shares during the period. Finally, Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. now owns 30,444 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $7,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Up 13.7%

The company has a 50-day moving average of $245.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $235.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.46.

Amazon.com Company Profile

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.