Amazon stock jumps most in 9 months as cost cuts, cloud spark earnings beat
Amazon; Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI
- Amazon rose as much as 7.6% on Friday, its biggest intraday gain since early February.
- The stock surge was driven by better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, as well as a strong outlook.
- Amazon shares are less than 1% from an all-time high set in July.
Amazon stock saw its best day in nine months on Friday.
It climbed as much as 7.6% to $200.50, its steepest intraday gain since Feb. 2, after a strong third-quarter earnings report. Shares traded around $199 as of 12:30 p.m. in New York, less than 1% from all-time closing highs set in July.
The tech titan beat estimates for both revenue and earnings-per-share, led by strength in cloud computing and cost-efficiency efforts. It also forecasted fourth-quarters sales in line with Wall Street expectations.
In a turnaround from last year's record low sales growth, Amazon Web Services — the firm's AI-driven cloud platform — maintained stable momentum. Cloud revenues rose 19%, and CEO Andy Jassy indicated that Amazon's blowout $75 billion investment for 2025 will largely benefit AWS.
During the firm's earnings call, Jassy explained that AI was driving the investment boost.
He expressed that the technology is "a really unusually large, maybe once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity. And I think our customers, the business, and our shareholders will feel good about this long term; that we're aggressively pursuing it."
The company's cost cutting efforts have allowed the firm to pursue larger investments in these areas. With more efficiencies suggested ahead, Bank of America expects continued margin expansion through 2025.
Amazon also delivered a retail beat, despite low expectations. Although Wall Street was concerned that headwinds would weaken the firm's consumer base, its online store grew 7% year-over-year, outpacing consensus estimates of 4%.
According to the bank, efficiencies in the cost of servicing customers and ad growth helped drive the estimate-beat.