Amazon shares jumped more than 13% in premarket trading Friday after the company reported a strong third-quarter performance that exceeded Wall Street expectations and eased concerns surrounding the growth trajectory of Amazon Web Services (AWS). The rally positions Amazon for a potential market capitalization gain of nearly $300 billion if the momentum sustains through the session — its best single-day performance since early 2022.
In the September quarter, Amazon posted revenue of $180.2 billion, up 13% year-on-year, along with earnings per share of $1.95. AWS — long viewed as the key earnings driver — grew 20% to $33 billion, its fastest pace in over a year and ahead of analyst expectations of around 18%. While Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud reported higher growth, at 40% and 34% respectively, AWS’s rebound narrowed the competitive gap and signaled renewed strength in the company’s cloud strategy. The company also maintained its outlook for the holiday quarter, providing further comfort to investors.
Fueling that cloud resurgence is Amazon’s aggressive infrastructure expansion. The company has invested nearly $100 billion this year into data centers, chip capacity, and power resources, adding 3.8 gigawatts of power and scaling its in-house Trainium2 chip lineup — which is already fully subscribed. Amazon also revealed progress on its Project Rainier cluster, reportedly comprising around half a million accelerators built for Anthropic. CEO Andy Jassy said AI is boosting performance “in every corner” of the company and confirmed AWS plans to double capacity by 2027 to meet rising demand.
Analysts responded enthusiastically, with Zacks strategist Ethan Feller calling the results a “turning point for investment sentiment” and suggesting the quarter could help Amazon reassert leadership among mega-cap tech stocks into year-end.
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