Amazon's stock climbed 15 percent on July 31, 2026, following the release of its second-quarter earnings report.
The company posted revenue of $200.6 billion, surpassing expectations by $4.2 billion.
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Net sales rose 20 percent year over year, fueled by strong performance in its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS revenue grew 37 percent to $42.2 billion, marking its fastest quarterly growth in 18 quarters.
Operating income reached $24.5 billion, with AWS operating margin expanding to 39 percent.
The results included a $53.4 billion non-operating gain from a valuation increase of AI startup Anthropic, following its $65 billion funding round in May.
Investment and Cash Flow
To meet growing demand for cloud and AI workloads, Amazon raised its planned 2026 capital expenditures from $200 billion to $220 billion.
This increased spending pushed free cash flow to negative $7.6 billion over the trailing twelve months, while operating cash flow rose 33 percent to $161.4 billion.
CEO Andy Jassy noted that server capacity remains constrained relative to customer demand across cloud and AI services.
"We added over $4.6 billion in revenue quarter over quarter — about 80% more than our largest increase ever," he said.
"Our backlog stands at $496 billion, growing triple digits year over year."
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Jassy highlighted AWS's integrated infrastructure as a key advantage. "Customers choose AWS because we offer the broadest capabilities," he stated.
