Amazon's stock jumped more than 15% the day after its last report, as its AWS cloud business grew at its fastest pace in 18 quarters (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026). Since then it has given much of that back, and it fell 4.6% on October 22 alone (source: Yahoo Finance, Amazon price history), as investors grew wary of heavy AI spending ahead of the report (source: TradingKey, October 22, 2026).
So the next report lands on a nervous market. Amazon is spending heavily on data centers, its free cash flow has turned negative, and its profit now swings with the value of its stake in the AI company Anthropic.
When does Amazon report Q3 2026 earnings?
Amazon reports its third-quarter 2026 results after the US market closes on Thursday, October 29, 2026. Its conference call starts at 5PM ET, which is 9PM UTC, late evening in Europe and early Friday across Asia and Australia (source: Amazon, October 15, 2026).
The results usually arrive a few minutes after the close. Last quarter, Amazon's earnings filing reached the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at 4.06PM ET (8.06PM UTC), (source: SEC EDGAR, Amazon July 2026 filing), and the three before it came in between 4.13PM and 4.25PM ET (source: SEC EDGAR, Amazon filings).
The October 2026 earnings season page lists the rest of the week, including Microsoft one day earlier, and how earnings season works explains the calendar behind it.
What Amazon told the market to expect
Unlike many big tech companies, Amazon prints its forecast in the results release itself. For the third quarter it expects net sales of $197.0 billion to $202.0 billion, up 9% to 12% from a year earlier. It expects operating income of $22.5 billion to $26.5 billion, against $17.4 billion a year ago (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026).
Amazon points to two details behind the range. It moved its Prime Day sale into June this year, so the event fell in the second quarter (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). Leaving Prime Day out of both years, Amazon says growth would be nearly 4 percentage points higher. It also expects currency moves to cut about 0.8 points (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026).
The year-ago profit figure is also low for a reason. It included a $2.5 billion legal settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission and $1.8 billion of severance costs. Without them, operating income was $21.7 billion (source: Amazon, October 30, 2025). Amazon's earnings reports explained walks through what each line of the release measures.
Amazon Q3 2026 earnings preview: What analysts expect
Analysts expect sales slightly above the top of Amazon's range. The Zacks consensus is earnings per share (EPS) of $2.01, up 3.1% from $1.95, on revenue of $202.11 billion, up 12.2% (source: Zacks via Yahoo Finance, October 22, 2026). The EPS figure has been cut 0.3% over the past 30 days.
Amazon has a habit of beating its own range. Last quarter it guided sales of $194.0 billion to $199.0 billion and operating income of $20.0 billion to $24.0 billion (source: Amazon, April 29, 2026). It delivered $200.6 billion of sales, and its $27.5 billion of operating income cleared the top of the range by $3.5 billion (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026).
Measure | Q3 2025 actual | Q2 2026 actual | Q3 2026 forecast |
|---|---|---|---|
Net sales | $180.2 billion | $200.6 billion | $202.11 billion (Zacks) |
Operating income | $17.4 billion | $27.5 billion | $22.5 billion to $26.5 billion (Amazon) |
EPS | $1.95 reported | 5.75reported(1.88 on the Zacks basis) | $2.01 (Zacks) |
AWS sales growth | 20% | 37% | Not guided |
The actual figures come from Amazon's releases (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026) (source: Amazon, October 30, 2025). The EPS line jumps around because Amazon revalues its Anthropic stake. Zacks counted second-quarter EPS as $1.88, against $1.83 expected (source: Zacks via Yahoo Finance, October 22, 2026). For AWS, Deutsche Bank models 41% growth (source: BigGo Finance, October 21, 2026).
What will move Amazon stock after the report
Sales and profit have mostly come in ahead of forecasts, so the reaction tends to hinge on AWS growth and on how much Amazon plans to spend next. Four things matter most, and several of the answers arrive on the call rather than in the release.
AWS growth and capacity
AWS sales grew 37% in the second quarter to $42.2 billion, against the $40.54 billion analysts polled by StreetAccount expected (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). That was a sharp step up from 28% in the first quarter (source: Amazon, April 29, 2026). Chief executive Andy Jassy said Amazon will still not have enough capacity to meet all of 2026 demand, even after this year's spending (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). How fast new capacity comes online sets the ceiling on AWS growth.
Capital spending, borrowing and free cash flow
Amazon spent $54.2 billion on property and equipment in the second quarter, and its free cash flow over the past 12 months was an outflow of $7.6 billion (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026). On the call it raised its 2026 spending plan to about $220 billion, from $200 billion (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). It is also borrowing more. Its long-term debt roughly doubled in the first half, to $128.9 billion (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026). Since then it has sold $25.0 billion of US dollar bonds (source: Amazon, Q2 2026 10-Q) and, in September, £4.25 billion of sterling bonds (source: Amazon, September 14, 2026). Any change to the spending plan for 2027 will be read closely.
Retail margins and advertising
North America's operating margin was 7.9% last quarter and International's 4.1% (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026). Part of that came from about $640 million of tariff refunds, which Amazon said is most of what it expects to receive (source: Amazon, Q2 2026 10-Q). Advertising grew 26% to $19.8 billion. In August, the FTC and 22 states sued Amazon over how it runs its ad auctions, which Amazon called "misguided" (source: Khaleej Times, September 1, 2026).
Amazon Leo
Amazon's satellite internet service, Amazon Leo, had nearly 400 satellites in orbit by July (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026). It missed its plan to launch service by mid-2026, but Amazon says it is still on track for later this year (source: Light Reading, October 12, 2026). Its costs weigh on profit while it scales.
Anthropic and the gap in Amazon's EPS
Amazon's reported profit now moves with the price of a private AI company. Amazon holds preferred shares in Anthropic, and when Anthropic raises money at a new price, Amazon revalues those shares through other income. It also holds Anthropic convertible notes, whose gains go to equity and reach profit only when the notes convert (source: Amazon, Q2 2026 10-Q).
The effect is large. In the second quarter Amazon booked $53.4 billion of other income, mainly from Anthropic, which pushed EPS to $5.75 (source: Amazon, July 30, 2026). For the second quarter, CNBC compared an adjusted $1.97 a share, which strips out the gain, with the $1.82 analysts polled by LSEG expected (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). The $3.78 gap between the reported $5.75 and the adjusted $1.97 is nearly twice this quarter's whole $2.01 consensus. Providers do not always strip these gains. In the third quarter of 2025, LSEG's comparison used the reported $1.95, which included an Anthropic gain (source: Amazon, October 30, 2025) (source: CNBC, October 30, 2025). Anthropic gains were also $16.8 billion in the first quarter (source: Amazon, April 29, 2026) and $9.5 billion in the third quarter of 2025 (source: Amazon, October 30, 2025).
This quarter is less clear. A gain usually needs a new price for Anthropic's shares. The last priced round was the Series H, in the second quarter (source: Amazon, Q2 2026 10-Q). In July, AMD agreed a strategic equity investment of up to $5 billion in Anthropic without disclosing a price (source: Tom's Hardware, July 22, 2026). So the reported EPS could land far from the $2.01 consensus in either direction. Watch the other income line before judging a beat or a miss.
How Amazon stock moved after its last four reports
Amazon's stock rose after three of its last four reports, and it moved more than 5% after three of them. After the February report, shares fell 5.6% (source: Yahoo Finance, Amazon price history) when Amazon forecast about $200 billion of spending for 2026 (source: CNBC, February 5, 2026).
Report | Amazon shares, next session (Nasdaq) | BloFin perpetual, 24 hours | Bitcoin, same 24 hours |
|---|---|---|---|
Q3 2025, October 30, 2025 | +9.6% | Not yet listed | +3.1% |
Q4 2025, February 5, 2026 | −5.6% | Not yet listed | +9.7% |
Q1 2026, April 29, 2026 | +0.8% | +0.9% | +1.1% |
Q2 2026, July 30, 2026 | +15.3% | +15.2% | −2.8% |
Nasdaq moves are close-to-close (source: Yahoo Finance, Amazon price history). BloFin figures run from 4PM ET on the report day to 4PM ET the next day (source: BloFin price data). BloFin listed the AMZNUSDT Perpetual on February 9, 2026, so it has no figure for the two earlier reports.
This time, options data compiled by Bloomberg pointed to a move of about 6.6% (source: Investing.com, October 22, 2026). Implied moves change daily and show the likely size of a move, not its direction. The stock closed at $250.38 on October 22, about 12% below its August 3 record (source: Yahoo Finance, Amazon price history). For the other two big cloud companies, see how Amazon stock compares with Alphabet's and what to watch in Microsoft's report a day earlier.
To follow the reaction on BloFin, watch the AMZNUSDT Perpetual, which keeps quoting after the close, and tokenized Amazon, AMZNX, which trades on spot through the night.
Trading Amazon's report on BloFin
BloFin's TradFi markets offer two ways to hold Amazon through the report: the AMZNUSDT Perpetual, with up to 20x leverage, and AMZNX on spot. The perpetual follows US regular hours, 9.30AM to 4PM ET. Outside them, you may only be able to close or cut a position (source: BloFin, stock futures trading hours).
That matters on report night. Amazon reports after the close, so new perpetual positions may be blocked during the first reaction, while AMZNX keeps trading on spot. After July's report, AMZNX traded every hour through the night and was about 10.7% above its 4PM ET price by 4AM ET. Hourly volume in those hours was under 2% of the last hour before the close, so spreads can widen (source: BloFin AMZNX price data). Spot and perpetual futures explains how the two products differ.
Size any position held through the report for a July-sized move. Say you hold a 2,000 USDT short on the Amazon perpetual at 4x leverage, backed by 500 USDT of margin. A repeat of July's 15.3% jump would cost about 306 USDT by the next US close, at 4PM ET on Friday. That is more than three fifths of your margin. Event risk in crypto covers how to plan around news like this. Copy trading is also available on AMZNUSDT, and copy trading explained covers why a copied short takes the same hit from a jump like that.
Looking to trade Amazon? To get started, you'll need to first create a BloFin account, fund your account with cryptocurrency, and navigate to the AMZNX/USDT Spot or AMZNUSDT Perpetual page, or browse the lead traders you can copy on BloFin.
Frequently asked questions
What time will Amazon earnings come out?
Amazon's results usually land within half an hour of the 4PM ET close (8PM UTC) on Thursday, October 29, ahead of the 5PM ET (9PM UTC) call. The fuller quarterly report, the 10-Q, comes later: last quarter's was filed the next day, July 31 (source: Amazon, Q2 2026 10-Q). That filing carries the detail on Amazon's Anthropic stake. The call's audio and slides stay at amazon.com/ir for at least three months (source: Amazon, October 15, 2026).
Is Amazon expected to beat earnings?
Analyst estimates for this quarter vary widely. The 14 estimates in the Zacks consensus range from $1.87 to $2.23 a share (source: Nasdaq, Amazon earnings forecast). Barchart notes that Amazon beat EPS estimates in only two of its past four quarters (source: Barchart via Yahoo Finance, October 13, 2026).
Does Amazon own bitcoin?
Amazon's filings disclose no bitcoin or other crypto holdings. In December 2024 the National Center for Public Policy Research asked Amazon to consider holding at least 5% of its assets in bitcoin (source: Decrypt, December 2024). The proposal never reached a vote, and none appeared on the 2025 or 2026 ballots.
Does Amazon pay a dividend?
Amazon does not pay a dividend, and its cash flow statement has no dividend line. It has a $10 billion share buyback plan from 2022 but bought back no shares in 2023, 2024 or 2025, leaving $6.1 billion unused (source: Amazon, 10-K for 2025).
When will Amazon report Q4 2026 earnings?
Amazon has not set a date yet. It reported fourth-quarter results on February 5, 2026, and February 6, 2025, both Thursdays after the close. If it follows the same pattern, the next report would come in early February 2027. This quarter's date was announced on October 15, two weeks ahead.
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. All facts independently verified. Sources include Amazon's SEC filings and releases, Zacks, LSEG and StreetAccount via CNBC and Yahoo Finance, Deutsche Bank via BigGo Finance, CNBC, Light Reading, Khaleej Times, Decrypt, Investing.com, Nasdaq, Yahoo Finance and BloFin, current as of October 23, 2026.
Nothing in this article constitutes financial advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold Amazon shares, AMZNX, the AMZNUSDT Perpetual or any crypto asset. Amazon reports after the US close, when the stock perpetual may be limited to reduce-only orders, and the stock has moved as much as 15.3% in a day after recent reports. A leveraged position can be liquidated and lose all the margin behind it, and a stop-loss can fill well past its price on a gap. BloFin services are not available in restricted locations, including the United States. Past performance does not indicate future results. Do your own research and consider your risk tolerance before you trade on BloFin.