NEW YORK, April 28, 2026, 11:27 (EDT)
- Amazon shares were slightly lower in late-morning trade as investors waited for first-quarter results.
- The company reports after Wednesday’s close, on the same day as Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta.
- The main issue is whether Amazon Web Services growth can justify Amazon’s heavy spending on AI infrastructure.
Amazon.com shares dipped on Tuesday as investors braced for first-quarter results that could reset the market’s view of the company’s AI spending and cloud-growth story. AMZN was recently at $260.11, down about 0.4%, after opening at $258.39 and trading between $256.40 and $262.04.
The timing is the story. Amazon has said it will discuss first-quarter results on April 29 at 2:30 p.m. PT, or 5:30 p.m. ET, putting the stock into a crowded earnings window for the biggest U.S. technology companies.
The pressure point is capital expenditure, or capex — money spent on long-lived assets such as data centers, chips and other infrastructure. Reuters reported Tuesday that Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta are on track to spend about $600 billion on AI this year; AWS, Amazon’s cloud-computing unit, is expected to have grown 25% in the January-to-March quarter, while Amazon’s overall revenue is seen rising 13.9% to $177.30 billion. Joe Maginot, a large-cap portfolio manager at Madison Investments, said investors want to know “what’s the return” on that spending. Reuters
A fresh analyst call gave bullish investors something to point to, though it did not stop the stock from easing. Mizuho analyst Lloyd Walmsley raised his Amazon price target to $325 from $315 and kept an Outperform rating, Benzinga reported. Investing.com said Mizuho cited scaling AWS chip and AI revenue, along with cloud deals involving OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.
The wider tape was less forgiving. The Nasdaq underperformed the S&P 500 and Dow on Tuesday as investors questioned whether the AI boom can deliver enough growth for tech stocks, with Oracle and several chip names falling after a Wall Street Journal report on OpenAI targets.
That makes Amazon’s report less about one quarter of retail sales and more about proof. Freedom Capital Markets chief market strategist Jay Woods told Business Insider that, for megacap tech, “good is not good enough,” while other market pros pointed to guidance and AI profitability as the bar investors now want cleared. Business Insider
Wall Street expects Amazon to post about $177 billion in first-quarter revenue and earnings of $1.65 a share, GeekWire reported. Analysts expect AWS revenue of about $36.8 billion, up nearly 26% from a year earlier, with investors watching whether three quarters of faster AWS growth can continue.
Amazon’s own guide left room for a wide outcome. In February, the company forecast first-quarter sales of $173.5 billion to $178.5 billion and operating income — profit from running the business before items such as interest and taxes — of $16.5 billion to $21.5 billion. CEO Andy Jassy said then that Amazon expected to invest about $200 billion in 2026 capex and “anticipate strong long-term return on invested capital.” Amazon News
But the risk is that strong AWS demand still fails to pay for the buildout fast enough. S&P Global’s Melissa Otto wrote that AWS margin expectations had fallen since October and that the range of estimates had widened, reflecting debate over AI and cloud demand; she also pointed to questions over whether Amazon will maintain full-year capex guidance as energy prices rise.
For Amazon stock today, the market is waiting for a cleaner answer than “AI demand is strong.” Investors want faster cloud growth, a credible spending plan and a margin forecast they can believe. Wednesday’s numbers will decide whether that is enough.
