New York, May 6, 2026, 06:40 ET
Amazon shares ticked up in early premarket action Wednesday, quoted at $274.52—just enough to nudge the company closer to that $3 trillion valuation mark following a fourth straight record close. The stock was up 0.35% from Tuesday’s finish at $273.55, landing Amazon’s market cap near $2.97 trillion. A fresh push into logistics has been stirring things up for parcel giants UPS and FedEx.
This shift is catching more attention these days. Amazon isn’t just defined by retail margins or cloud performance anymore. Investors are sizing up whether its sprawling delivery operation could spin out as its own cash generator—just like Amazon Web Services did for the company’s cloud push.
Wall Street’s putting Amazon’s spending plans under the microscope. The company insists it’s committed to big capital outlays—think data centers, chips, and other long-term assets—even as it works to convince investors that revenue from AI and logistics will cover the tab.
Amazon rolled out Amazon Supply Chain Services on Monday, giving businesses outside the Amazon.com marketplace access to its freight, distribution, fulfillment, and parcel shipping network. Early customers include Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands’ End, and American Eagle Outfitters, the company said.
Amazon is now looking to extend its logistics muscle to outside firms, aiming for an impact “much like Amazon Web Services did for cloud computing,” according to Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon Supply Chain Services. The new offering targets industries from healthcare and automotive to manufacturing and retail. Amazon News
Competitors took a hit right out of the gate. FedEx and UPS both dropped over 9% on Monday, according to Reuters, while Amazon managed to edge up almost 1%. Investors saw Amazon’s move as a major push into a logistics space traditionally led by the two shipping giants. Parth Talsania, CEO of Equisights Research, summed it up as Amazon’s play to “convert logistics from a cost burden into an infrastructure product.” Reuters
Amazon’s cloud business continues to steal the spotlight. For the first quarter, the company posted net sales of $181.5 billion, up 17%. AWS racked up $37.6 billion in sales, growing 28%—the biggest jump in 15 quarters. Net income hit $30.3 billion, boosted by a $16.8 billion pre-tax gain from its Anthropic investment.
That renewed momentum at AWS is drawing analyst attention, offering Amazon a sharper response to mounting questions around AI investments. “The significant reacceleration in AWS sales growth is the standout story,” Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com, told Reuters. Still, D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria flagged Google Cloud’s even quicker pace, saying it “may be a slight disappointment” for AWS, and highlighting the pressure from Alphabet. Reuters
Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, insists the company’s heavy spending is driven by real demand—nothing speculative about it. The chips division, which includes Graviton, Trainium, and Nitro, now pulls in more than $20 billion a year, according to the latest numbers. Jassy also highlighted advertising revenue, which cleared $70 billion in the past 12 months.
Cash is where the pressure’s building. Amazon reported free cash flow dropped to $1.2 billion over the last 12 months, down sharply from $25.9 billion a year ago. The culprit: property and equipment purchases jumped by $59.3 billion, most of that aimed at AI. The calculation gets riskier if AWS loses momentum, logistics clients are slow to ramp up, or Google Cloud keeps taking share at a brisker pace. Investors could start to wonder whether all this investment is really pulling its weight.
Amazon’s stock is getting a bit of breathing room for the moment. What matters next isn’t so much a splashy product debut—investors want to see if cloud AI, advertising, and third-party logistics can all expand without putting even more pressure on cash flow.
Related articles: E-Commerce
