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When Were the Amazon Q2 2026 Earnings Released?Amazon announced its second-quarter 2026 financial results after the U.S. market closed on Thursday, July 30, 2026.The results covered the three months eWhen Were the Amazon Q2 2026 Earnings Released?Amazon announced its second-quarter 2026 financial results after the U.S. market closed on Thursday, July 30, 2026.The results covered the three months e

Amazon Q2 2026 Earnings Results: AWS Growth Hits 37% and AMZN Stock Jumps Despite $220 Billion CapEx Plan

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Author: James Mitchell

2026/07/31 11:39

Key Takeaways

Amazon released its Q2 2026 earnings on July 30. Net sales increased 20% to $200.6 billion, while operating income rose 43% to $27.5 billion. AWS revenue grew 37% to $42.2 billion, marking its fastest growth in 18 quarters. Amazon’s reported net income was significantly boosted by a non-operating gain related mainly to Anthropic.

When Were the Amazon Q2 2026 Earnings Released?

Amazon announced its second-quarter 2026 financial results after the U.S. market closed on Thursday, July 30, 2026.

The results covered the three months ended June 30. Investors can review Amazon’s official Q2 2026 earnings release and the company’s Q2 earnings conference call page for the financial statements, webcast and presentation materials.

Did Amazon Beat Q2 2026 Revenue Expectations?

Amazon reported quarterly net sales of $200.6 billion, up 20% from $167.7 billion one year earlier. Analysts had expected approximately $196.5 billion in revenue, meaning Amazon exceeded the widely reported consensus forecast.

Operating income increased 43% to $27.5 billion, compared with $19.2 billion in Q2 2025. The result was also above Amazon’s previous operating-income guidance of $20 billion to $24 billion.

The strongest underlying operating contributions came from AWS and Amazon’s North American retail business. North America generated $9.1 billion in operating income, International generated $1.7 billion, and AWS contributed $16.6 billion.

Why Is Amazon’s Reported EPS Not Directly Comparable?

Amazon reported net income of $62.6 billion, or $5.75 per diluted share, compared with $18.2 billion and $1.68 per share one year earlier.

However, Q2 net income included $53.4 billion in non-operating pre-tax income, primarily related to Amazon’s investments in Anthropic. Amazon did not provide a separate adjusted EPS figure excluding this gain.

For that reason, the $5.75 reported EPS should not be interpreted as a clean measure of growth in Amazon’s retail, advertising and cloud operations. Revenue, operating income and segment-level results provide a clearer picture of the company’s underlying quarterly performance.

AWS Revenue Growth Accelerated to 37%

Amazon Web Services revenue increased 37% to $42.2 billion, accelerating from 28% growth in the previous quarter and marking AWS’s fastest growth in 18 quarters.

The result was also well above analysts’ expectation of approximately 31% growth. AWS reached an annualized revenue run rate of around $169 billion.

AWS operating income increased 64% to $16.6 billion, compared with $10.2 billion one year earlier. Its quarterly operating margin rose to 39.4%, up from 32.9% in Q2 2025.

AWS represented about 21% of Amazon’s total revenue but generated approximately 60% of its operating income. This shows why cloud growth remains central to Amazon’s overall earnings performance.

AWS Contract Backlog Reached $496 Billion

According to Amazon management’s comments during the earnings call, as reported by Reuters, AWS ended the quarter with approximately $496 billion in contract backlog, up from $364 billion three months earlier.

This figure represents future cloud services that customers have contractually committed to purchase but that AWS has not yet recognized as revenue.

The backlog should not be treated as:

1.current-quarter revenue;

2.cash already received;

3.or revenue that will all be recognized within the next year.

Revenue will be recognized gradually as AWS provides the contracted computing, storage and other cloud services.

CEO Andy Jassy also said that most of the AWS computing capacity expected to become available in 2027 had already been reserved, while part of its planned 2028 capacity had also been committed.

Amazon’s AI and Chips Businesses Exceeded $25 Billion Run Rates

Amazon said its AWS AI business and chips business had each exceeded a company-reported annualized revenue run rate of $25 billion. Both were growing at triple-digit year-over-year rates.

These are run-rate indicators provided by Amazon, not separately reported GAAP business segments. They describe the approximate annualized pace of current activity rather than revenue already recognized over a full financial year.

Amazon said Anthropic and OpenAI had made multiyear commitments involving its Trainium AI chips. The company also reported that Graviton processors were being used by 98% of its 1,000 largest EC2 customers.

Amazon Bedrock also continued to expand. The company said it added more customers over the past six months than during its first two years after launch, while Q2 customer spending exceeded the total recorded across all previous quarters.

Amazon Advertising Revenue Increased 26%

Amazon advertising-services revenue increased 26% to $19.8 billion, compared with $15.7 billion one year earlier.

Advertising remains one of Amazon’s faster-growing businesses and includes sponsored advertisements, display advertising and video advertising sold across its commerce and media platforms.

Amazon is also integrating AI into campaign planning and creative production. The company said advertisers using its Ads Agent recorded 8% lower costs per impression and 6% lower customer-acquisition costs than those that did not use the tool.

Amazon’s Retail Businesses Continued to Grow

North America segment sales increased 16% to $116.2 billion, while operating income rose 21% to $9.1 billion.

International segment sales increased 15% to $42.2 billion, while operating income rose to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion one year earlier.

Online-store revenue increased 15% to $70.4 billion, while third-party seller-services revenue increased 16% to $46.8 billion. Subscription-services revenue rose 12% to $13.7 billion.

Amazon also said the number of products delivered to Prime members on the same day or overnight increased by more than 40% during the first half of 2026. Faster delivery may support purchase frequency, although expanding that capacity requires continued investment in logistics and fulfillment infrastructure.

Amazon’s Trailing-12-Month Free Cash Flow Turned Negative

Amazon’s operating cash flow for the trailing 12 months increased 33% to $161.4 billion.

However, trailing-12-month free cash flow declined to an outflow of $7.6 billion, compared with an inflow of $18.2 billion one year earlier. This is a trailing-12-month figure, not Amazon’s free cash flow for Q2 alone.

The decline was primarily caused by a $66.1 billion year-over-year increase in purchases of property and equipment, net of sales and incentives. Amazon said the increase mainly reflected investment in artificial-intelligence infrastructure.

During Q2 alone, Amazon spent $54.2 billion on property and equipment before proceeds from sales and incentives, compared with $32.2 billion one year earlier.

Amazon Raised Its 2026 Capital-Spending Plan to $220 Billion

During the earnings call, Amazon management raised its expected 2026 capital spending by approximately 10%, from around $200 billion to $220 billion.

Jassy said higher memory-chip costs were a major reason for the increase. Most of the spending will support AWS data centers, computing capacity, networking equipment, custom chips and AI infrastructure.

Amazon also said that even with the higher spending level, it expects available computing capacity to remain below total customer demand during 2026 and potentially during 2027.

The $220 billion figure came from management’s earnings-call commentary. It was not included in the formal Q3 financial-guidance section of Amazon’s earnings release.

What Is Amazon’s Q3 2026 Guidance?

Amazon expects third-quarter net sales of between $197 billion and $202 billion, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 9% to 12%.

The company said Prime Day took place during Q2 this year. Excluding the different timing of Prime Day in 2025 and 2026, Q3 year-over-year growth would be nearly four percentage points higher.

Amazon expects Q3 operating income of between $22.5 billion and $26.5 billion, compared with $17.4 billion in the same quarter one year earlier.

The guidance suggests continued operating-profit growth, although reported revenue growth is expected to slow from the 20% increase recorded in Q2.

Why Did AMZN Stock Rise After Earnings?

AMZN stock rose nearly 9% in immediate after-hours trading following the earnings release. This was an initial market reaction and may differ from the stock’s movement during the following regular trading session.

Investors appeared to focus on:

1.AWS growth accelerating to 37%;

2.AWS operating income increasing 64%;

3.AWS contract backlog reaching $496 billion;

4.and Amazon demonstrating strong demand despite its rising infrastructure spending.

These results provided clearer evidence that Amazon’s AI and data-center investments were already contributing to faster cloud growth, helping offset concerns about negative free cash flow and the expanded $220 billion spending plan.

What Should Investors Watch Next?

The central question is whether AWS can maintain growth above 30% as Amazon brings additional computing capacity online.

Investors should also monitor AWS operating margins, the pace at which the $496 billion contract backlog becomes recognized revenue, adoption of Trainium and Graviton chips, and advertising growth.

Free cash flow remains an important measure of risk. Amazon is producing strong operating cash flow, but its AI infrastructure buildout is currently absorbing more cash than the business generates after property and equipment spending.

Explore Amazon and Stock-Related Markets on MEXC

Amazon(AMZN)’s quarterly results allow market participants to follow AWS growth, artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending, advertising demand, e-commerce margins and free cash flow.

Users can register for access to U.S. stocks and review the U.S. stocks trading guide.

MEXC also provides access to U.S. stock-related futures markets, together with a futures trading tutorial.

FAQ

Did Amazon Beat Q2 2026 Revenue Expectations?

Yes. Amazon reported net sales of $200.6 billion, above analysts’ widely reported forecast of approximately $196.5 billion. Operating income of $27.5 billion also exceeded Amazon’s previous guidance range of $20 billion to $24 billion.

How Fast Did AWS Grow?

AWS revenue increased 37% year over year to $42.2 billion, marking its fastest growth in 18 quarters. AWS operating income increased 64% to $16.6 billion.

What Does the $496 Billion AWS Backlog Mean?

It represents contracted future AWS services that have not yet been recognized as revenue. It does not mean Amazon has already received $496 billion in cash or that the full amount will become revenue within one quarter or year.

How Much Does Amazon Expect to Spend in 2026?

During the earnings call, Amazon raised its expected 2026 capital spending to approximately $220 billion, mainly to expand AI, cloud and data-center infrastructure.

Why Was Amazon’s Reported EPS So High?

Amazon’s reported EPS of $5.75 included $53.4 billion in non-operating pre-tax income, primarily related to its Anthropic investments. The reported EPS therefore does not reflect only the performance of Amazon’s underlying operations.

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