Amazon Q2 earnings to put spotlight on AWS growth amid AI spending
Daniel Howley· Technology Editor
Wed, July 29, 2026 at 5:26 PM GMT+5:30
2 min read
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Amazon (AMZN) is set to report its second quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday, a week after Google parent Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) results fell flat on Wall Street
During its earnings call, Alphabet said it will increase spending on its AI build-out, raising its anticipated capital expenditures to between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from its prior estimate of $180 billion to $190 billion
And while Alphabet’s overall earnings and revenue topped expectations, that spending number was enough to send investors for the exits. Shares fell more than 6% following the news
In February, Amazon said it planned to spend some $200 billion on capital expenditures in 2026. If the company pushes that higher, investors could react as they did to Alphabet’s revised spending. Analysts are projecting capex of $48.7 billion for the period
But Amazon could keep Wall Street happy if it shows that those investments are paying off for its Amazon Web Services (AWS) segment
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“We continue to view AWS growth as the key metric driving sentiment as investors wrestle with the returns on the massive infrastructure build out,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Justin Patterson wrote in an investor note
For the quarter, Amazon is expected to report earnings per share of $1.82 on revenue of $196.9 billion. The company saw EPS of $1.68 and revenue of $167.7 billion in the same period last year
AWS is projected to generate $40.5 billion in the quarter, up 31% from the $30.8 billion the company reported in Q2 2025
“We remain constructive on AWS’s improving AI positioning, which should be apparent in results that show AWS growth acceleration, backlog expansion, positive Bedrock datapoints, and Trainium benefits to [year-over-year] margins,” BofA Global Research analyst Justin Post wrote to investors
Wall Street will also be on the lookout for Amazon’s remaining performance obligations (RPOs), or contracts the company has signed but has yet to deliver on. Revenue backlog for RPOs hit $364 billion last quarter
In addition to its cloud business, Amazon has been expanding its chip sales, renting out capacity to Meta (META), OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), Anthropic (ANTH.PVT), and others. CEO Andy Jassy previously teased the idea of selling the company’s chips for customers to install in their own data centers, which could boost the company’s bottom line
Outside of AI, Amazon’s e-commerce platform is anticipated to see revenue of $69.8 billion, an increase of 13% year over year. Advertising revenue is set to come in at $19.3 billion, up 23%
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at@DanielHowley
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