Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) could be overshadowed by recent negative headlines when it reports third-quarter financial results on Thursday after market close.
Here are the earnings estimates, and the key items to watch.
Earnings Estimates: Analysts expect the e-commerce giant to report third-quarter revenue of $177.72 billion. Benzinga Pro shows $158.88 billion for last year's third quarter.
The company has beaten analyst revenue estimates in four straight quarters, nine of the last 10 quarters overall.
Analysts also expect Amazon to report third-quarter earnings per share of $1.57, up from $1.43 in last year's third quarter.
The company has beaten analyst earnings-per-share estimates for 11 straight quarters.
The company’s guidance calls for third-quarter net sales of $174 billion to $179.5 billion.
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What Experts Are Saying: Strong momentum in core ecommerce and growth in Amazon Web Services could power the stock, Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt said in a recent investor note.
The analyst maintained an Outperform rating on Amazon and raised the price target from $250 to $280, citing a potential breakout for the stock in 2026.
Devitt sees increased demand for Amazon's artificial intelligence services helping to boost the company's AWS cloud division. The analyst also highlights rapid expansion for Amazon's advertising business.
There is negative sentiment around AWS. Yet, Devitt said there is an attractive risk/reward for Amazon stock ahead of and after the third-quarter financial results.
A rebound in Amazon's cloud segment and strength in ecommerce also have Bank of America Securities analyst Justin Post bullish ahead of earnings.
The analyst recently maintained a Buy rating on Amazon with a price target of $272 ahead of financial results.
Bank of America data shows an increase in online spending in the third quarter, which could be optimistic for Amazon's results, Post said.
The analyst said the data shows that analysts could be underestimating the strength of North American ecommerce for Amazon.
Post said Amazon will likely give strong fourth-quarter guidance, including an expected acceleration in AWS growth.
The analyst said investors are weighing down Amazon stock with concerns about AWS competition and the company's AI initiatives. Post expects upcoming catalysts to change those narratives.
Freedom Capital Markets Chief Market Strategist Jay Woods said Amazon stock has rallied over 23% since the second-quarter results, but still lags the overall S&P 500.
"Like the other megacap growth stocks, AI monetization remains a priority," Woods said in a weekly newsletter. "Investors are also focused on their ecommerce and consumer trends to get a better gauge to see if new spending habits are impacting the bottom line as expectations of tariffs remain a concern."
Woods said the recent AWS outage could be a key focus on the earnings call.
Key Items to Watch: Amazon's quarterly results come after several recent potential negative headlines around the company.
On Monday, it was announced that the compny would cut 30,000 positions, marking the largest layoff in company history. The layoffs could impact around 10% of the company's corporate workforce.
Layoffs will hit multiple areas of Amazon's business, including services, devices and human resources.
The job-cut news comes as recent reports highlighted Amazon's use of robots in warehouses, leading to fewer human workers in the future. A report said Amazon could turn to robots instead of hiring 160,000 people by 2027 for its current growth. The report also said robots could eliminate the need for 600,000 future jobs by 2033.
Amazon said the report reflected perspectives of only one team and did not reflect the "overall hiring strategy" moving forward.
"The facts speak for themselves: No company has created more jobs in America over the past decade than Amazon," the company told the New York Times.
The recent job cut news and robot news could be a key topic to see what Amazon's hiring and human employee growth looks like in the future and the potential costs and/or cost savings coming.
An AWS outage that knocked out many internet and retail business operations and slowed down the world could be a key topic and could lead to Amazon highlighting growth from AWS partners and what the company is doing to prevent future outages.
Amazon could also highlight international expansion with a recent $1.6 billion investment in the Netherlands to boost ecommerce and AWS operations in the country.
International revenue grew 16% year over year for Amazon in the second quarter, outpacing the 11% year-over-year growth in the North American segment.
AWS revenue was up 17.5% year-over-year in the second quarter. While impressive, the growth was slower than the company has seen in recent quarters.
Amazon is also likely to highlight its Amazon Prime Video streaming segment and the recent launch of NBA games for the 2025-2026 season, which adds to its lineup of live sports content.
AMZN Price Action: Amazon stock is up 1.6% to $230.61 on Tuesday, within its 52-week trading range of $161.43 to $242.52. Amazon shares are up 4.7% year-to-date in 2025.
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