Amazon came up short of Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings estimate, despite gains in product sales and stronger North American numbers.
Zacks Investment Research consensus estimates called for earnings per diluted share of $2.01 and revenues of $202.11 billion.
Net product sales were $75.3 billion and total sales were $201.94 billion versus $74.06 billion and $180.17 billion, respectively, in the year-earlier quarter. Operating income was $28.08 billion versus $17.42 billion in the year-prior period.
Amazon noted that Prime Day timing shifted in 2026, with the event occurring in the second quarter for most large countries, while in 2025 it occurred entirely in the third quarter. The company said third-quarter year-over-year sales growth would have been approximately four percentage points higher without the shift.
North America segment sales advanced 6% year over year to $112.85 billion, while operating income was $8.72 billion versus $4.79 billion in the year-past quarter.
Amazon provided fourth-quarter guidance for sales of $240 to $247 billion, or growth of 12% to 16% and operating income of $28.5 billion to $33.5 billion.
In a conference call, Jassy said Amazon will continue to make major capital investments across the business as it builds cloud and AI operations, as well as grocery and essentials. Jassy characterized the grocery and essentials investment as good for general merchandise categories, including home and apparel, because active Amazon grocery customers are four times more likely to shop in these non-grocery segments and spend twice as much on them as non-grocery customers.
In announcing the financial results, Andy Jassy, Amazon president and CEO, said, “Our broader selection and speedier delivery are helping us capture more retail market segment share with improving margins, and our newer businesses, ranging from grocery to pharmacy to Amazon Leo to Zoox, are progressing encouragingly. There has never been a trillion-dollar revenue business, and we may have two of them in the next five to 10 years.”
Amazon noted that Zoox autonomous robotaxis have begun providing rides to consumers in Las Vegas and are under test in San Diego and Houston. It added that the company is on track to begin Amazon Leo low Earth orbit satellite service this year, providing high-speed Internet service in competition with SpaceX’s Starlink.
