Amazon.com delivered another solid quarter, topping analyst forecasts for both earnings and revenue, though profitability came in a touch softer as margins eased from earlier highs.
The tech and retail giant reported Q3 earnings per share of $1.95, well above estimates of $1.58. Net sales rose to $180.17 billion, beating expectations of $177.82 billion, driven by strength across e-commerce and cloud computing.
North America sales climbed to $106.27 billion (vs. $104.96 billion expected), while AWS revenue rose 20% ex-FX to $33.01 billion, also ahead of forecasts for $32.39 billion. Physical store sales were broadly in line at $5.58 billion.
However, operating income of $17.42 billion missed the consensus of $19.72 billion, with operating margin at 9.7%, below the 11.1% analyst estimate.
Looking ahead, Amazon expects Q4 net sales between $206 billion and $213 billion (street $208.45 billion) and operating income of $21 billion–$26 billion (vs. $23.78 billion expected), signalling confidence in year-end demand despite some cost pressure.
