Amazon shares fell more than 6% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the e-commerce and technology giant reported third-quarter 2026 earnings and revenue below analysts’ expectations.
The company posted earnings of $1.89 per share on revenue of $201.94 billion, missing analysts’ estimates of $1.96 per share and revenue of $202.10 billion.
The results come amid growing scrutiny of artificial intelligence (AI) spending, with investors increasingly concerned about the billions of dollars technology companies are committing to the infrastructure required to develop and operate AI systems.
Concerns have also mounted over the substantial debt companies are issuing to finance AI infrastructure expansion, contributing to a sell-off in government debt in the United States and other markets.
Amazon has become a major player in the AI industry through Amazon Web Services (AWS), its market-leading cloud computing division. The company is investing heavily in building and operating large-scale data centres to support the hardware and software infrastructure required for AI development and computing.
Other major AI infrastructure investors, known as hyperscalers, include Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Alphabet and Oracle.
Amazon has also strengthened its position in the AI sector through multi-billion-dollar investments in Anthropic, the developer of the Claude AI assistant.
Anthropic unveiled its initial public offering filing earlier this week, targeting what could become the largest market debut in history.
For the fourth quarter, Amazon expects revenue of between $240 billion and $247 billion, compared with analysts’ consensus estimate of $244.30 billion.
The forecast places the midpoint of Amazon’s revenue outlook at $243.5 billion, slightly below the market’s expectations, as investors assess the company’s financial performance amid heightened scrutiny of technology spending and AI infrastructure investments.
