Moving the Prime Day sales event to June and a lack of NBA content slowed Amazon's ad revenue growth in Q3. The article says AI agents have not yet disrupted the advertising segment.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
AMZNadvertisingretailartificial intelligence
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
AMZN
▼ Likely negativeAmazon
Relevance: medium
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Consumer Discretionary |
| Industry | Broadline Retail |
| Market cap | $2.6T |
| Close on 10/29/2026 | 243.79 |
| Change that session | -4.25% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Amazon's mixed Q3 earnings raises some questions
Amazon's AWS grew 39% in the third quarter, slightly above the roughly 38% consensus, but the speaker said the beat was not large enough after stronger cloud acceleration reported by Microsoft and Google. Overall revenue missed estimates, mainly due to retail, which includes advertising. Amazon kept its full-year CapX outlook at $220 billion, while third-quarter capex came in well above estimates, implying a sizable step-down in the fourth quarter. The speaker sees the capex cycle rising but very lumpy, with some quarters potentially reaching $80 billion and others around $40 billion.
- Amazon (AMZN): How Much More Can It Earn From Sellers Before Their Economics Suffer?
Amazon.com, Inc. grew second-quarter 2026 advertising revenue 26% year over year to $19.8 billion, ahead of 20% total sales growth, while seller-services revenue rose 16% to $46.8 billion. The article asks whether merchants are buying better services or sacrificing profitability to stay visible. Amazon trades at 24x forward P/E and 20x trailing, and quarterly results included $53.4 billion of pretax nonoperating other income, mainly from AI investments, which boosted historical earnings. North American operating income rose to $9.1 billion from $7.5 billion, lifting calculated operating margin to 7.9% from 7.5%, and seller units grew roughly 15%. Tinuiti's second-quarter advertiser benchmark showed Sponsored Products spending up 38%, clicks up 37% and attributed sales up 44%, which the article reads as improved ad efficiency among sampled advertisers.
- Two Reasons Keep Me Buying Amazon Without Fear
The author keeps adding to Amazon for two reasons: AWS is accelerating from a large base, with growth rising from 20% in Q3 2025 to 37% in Q2 2026, and advertising and retail are expanding alongside a strong balance sheet. AWS revenue reached $42.23 billion last quarter with a $496 billion backlog, while total operating income rose 43.24% to $27.46 billion. The author prefers Amazon over Microsoft and Walmart for its higher operating margin, 11.16% versus near 4% at Walmart. The main risk is about $200 billion of planned 2026 capex, which pushed trailing free cash flow to -$7.6 billion. The author argues most AI capacity is contracted for at least five-year terms, so the spending should pay back.
- Breaking Down Amazon's Third-Quarter Earnings
Amazon spent more than $77 billion on property and equipment in the third quarter, well above analyst estimates, and still expects full-year cash capex of $220 billion. AWS growth of 39% matched consensus, and the company's expected growth of 40% over the next two years was seen as impressive. Retail was soft as the Prime Day shift from Q2 to Q3 cut about 400 basis points from top-line growth, while North American operating margin rose to 7.7% versus an expected 6%. Commentators attributed the margin gain largely to advertising, which they see as still in its early innings, though generative AI shopping could change where ads are placed.
- Amazon blocks agentic AI shopping. But Walmart is betting big that it's worth saying yes.
A Bank of America note led by Christopher Nardone, published Monday, argues Walmart stands to benefit if shoppers hand purchases to AI agents, citing its integration with multiple AI ecosystems, its own shopping assistant “Sparky” and partnerships including Meta's Muse. Walmart, Best Buy (BBY) and Ulta (ULTA) are among Muse's key partners, while some other retailers have blocked it. Amazon has blocked Muse from making purchases on its site and bars automated shopping tools, though it may not be losing much in sales since most people use AI mainly for research. Walmart's management, however, cannot say how popular shopping agents will become, and it is unclear how advertising, a growing business for Walmart, would be affected if screenless computers handle checkout.
- What Amazon.com (AMZN)'s AI Shopping Bot Block Means For Shareholders
Amazon.com has blocked AI shopping agents, including Elon Musk's Grok Bot and Meta's Muse, from placing orders, citing platform terms violations and a push to control automated access to its marketplace. The article links this move to a broader bet that Amazon can keep AI workloads and shopping interactions within its own stack, including reported US$7b talks over a potential Decart acquisition, whose software could help run AI workloads on Amazon's Trainium chips. Analyst models assume revenue grows 14.4% a year and profit margins ease from 17.4% to 14.0% as AI and data center spending runs through the income statement under a US$220b 2026 CapEx plan. Consensus sees earnings rising from US$135.3b today to US$163.0b by 2029, with a P/E of 29.2x versus about 20.1x today. Analyst price targets cluster around US$330.59, ranging from US$230.0 to US$405.0.
Related markets
Latest news
- Marvell and Lumentum shareholders unite in panning merger deal: “It's a trash offer”
Marvell agreed to buy Lumentum in an all-stock deal, and shares of both companies fell Monday. Shareholders of both companies have criticized the offer, with one describing it as “a trash offer.”
- Nvidia Reports Nov. 17. History Says What Its Stock Usually Does Next.
Nvidia will report results for its fiscal third quarter of 2027 after the close on Nov. 17, with shares near $205, about 14% below their Oct. 6 closing high of $239.24. Revenue beat the top of management's forecast range in each of the past 10 reports, yet the stock fell the next trading day after six of them, with the largest drop about 8.5% in February 2025. Most of those declines were recovered by the next report roughly three months later, though the roughly 9% gain after the August report has since faded to about 10% below its post-report close. Nvidia guides for third-quarter revenue of $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%. The author concludes history is not a strong reason to avoid the stock before the report, leaning toward buying before Nov. 17 rather than guessing the next day's move, with shares trading at about 14 times the consensus fiscal 2028 EPS estimate of $15.80.
- Profile of Sacombank Acting CEO Nguyen Thi Kieu Anh: From VPBank Credit Officer to Leading Private Bank Executive in Vietnam
Nguyen Thi Kieu Anh was appointed acting CEO of Sacombank effective Nov. 2, 2026, replacing Loic Faussier, who became senior adviser to the board. She has more than 20 years in banking, including 18 years at VPBank, where she rose from credit officer to regional director, followed by roles at LPBank from 2023 to 2025 such as branch director and deputy CEO. She joined Sacombank in late December 2025 and was appointed deputy CEO effective Dec. 23, 2025. In March 2026, she also took on the roles of corporate governance and information disclosure officer as the bank launched a new organizational model on March 16, 2026. Her appointment comes as Sacombank accelerates completion of its restructuring plan.
- Palantir's U.S. Revenue Soars 119% as Commercial Revenue Surpasses Government Revenue for the First Time. Here's Why Its Growth Is Still Surging, Even as Other AI Stocks Falter
Palantir reported Q3 revenue of $2.3 billion, up 96% year over year and its fastest growth on record, with EPS of $0.44, up 144%, beating consensus estimates of $2.2 billion and $0.41. U.S. commercial revenue rose 148% to $984 million, surpassing U.S. government revenue of $953 million for the first time. Management raised full-year revenue growth guidance to roughly 91% from 82%. The article notes the stock trades at 125 times earnings with a PEG ratio of 0.53, and the author views the outlook positively while cautioning that the premium valuation could lead to a swift and severe rerating if results fall short.
- Apple beats sales and profit expectations but AI costs weigh on holiday sales
Apple beat analysts' expectations with record revenue for the July–September quarter, driven by iPhone and services sales, but higher AI-related costs will weigh on margins. CEO John Ternus, who succeeded Tim Cook in September, said the company is closing the year with its most ambitious lineup and hinted at a strong holiday season, including the foldable Duo. CFO Kevan Parekh guided gross margin to 45% to 46%, down from 47.9% in the September quarter, citing higher memory costs and costs tied to ramping Siri AI, which uses Google's Gemini model. Analysts had expected Apple to spend about $11 billion over the 12 months to September, a fraction of the more than $700 billion that Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta are on track to spend this year. Parekh said AI gives customers a compelling reason to upgrade.
- Alphabet Lost $500 Billion in Market Value. Should You Really Buy AI Stocks Now?
Alphabet shares fell 13% in one session, their worst trading day ever, after parts of its earnings report disappointed investors and wiped out about $500 billion in market value. The concern centers on AI infrastructure spending: Alphabet kept its capex forecast unchanged at $195 billion to $205 billion, and free cash flow came in at negative $9 billion versus analysts' estimate of $2.7 billion. Google ads still accounted for 64% of total revenue, while the cloud business posted a record 103% revenue gain to more than $30 billion. Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta together aim to spend more than $700 billion this year on infrastructure. The author argues that for most investors, the recent decline is a chance to buy at an attractive price, though more volatility could follow.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.