Amazon reported booming cloud revenue but otherwise missed expectations

Amazon reported its third-quarter earnings on Thursday and missed analysts’ expectations for both its total revenue and earnings per share. There were other murky numbers in the report that scared investors, too, including how much cash the company is burning through. But the report did have a big, bright spot: Its cloud unit, Amazon Web Services, beat revenue expectations and grew a whopping 39% compared to the year-ago quarter.

亚马逊周四公布了第三季度财报，其总营收和每股收益均未达到分析师预期。报告中还有其他一些令投资者感到担忧的模糊数据，包括该公司的现金消耗情况。但这份报告也有一个巨大的亮点：其云业务部门亚马逊云科技（AWS）的营收超出了预期，与去年同期相比增长了惊人的 39%。

Here are the numbers: Net sales increased 12% to $201.9 billion. But analysts were expecting $202.2 billion, according to FactSet. Fully diluted earnings per share were $1.89. Analysts were expecting $1.97. AWS sales reached $45.98 billion. Analysts were expecting $45.29 billion. In addition, Amazon said that AWS operating income grew to $17.8 billion, compared with $11.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

具体数据如下：净销售额增长 12%，达到 2019 亿美元。但据 FactSet 数据显示，分析师此前预期为 2022 亿美元。完全摊薄后的每股收益为 1.89 美元，而分析师预期为 1.97 美元。AWS 销售额达到 459.8 亿美元，分析师预期为 452.9 亿美元。此外，亚马逊表示，AWS 的营业利润增长至 178 亿美元，而 2025 年第三季度为 114 亿美元。

But here’s the biggest ouch of the report: Free cash flow fell to a negative of $42.4 billion for the trailing 12 months — meaning the company was spending far more cash than it generated. This compares to positive free cash flow of $14.8 billion for the trailing 12 months ended September 30, 2025. The big spending was driven largely by Amazon’s investments in AI, the company said.

但报告中最令人痛苦的部分在于：过去 12 个月的自由现金流降至负 424 亿美元，这意味着该公司支出的现金远超其产生的现金。相比之下，截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的过去 12 个月，其自由现金流为正 148 亿美元。该公司表示，巨额支出主要是由亚马逊在人工智能领域的投资所驱动。

With one quarter left in its fiscal year, Amazon reiterated that it still expects to end its 2026 with cash capital expenditures of about $220 billion. To put that in perspective, the company forecast fourth-quarter net sales of between $240 billion and $247 billion. The fourth quarter is typically a retailer’s biggest, thanks to the holiday shopping season. That means Amazon expects to spend almost as much on capital expenditures, largely for AI, over the full year as it expects to bring in from sales in the fourth quarter.

在 2026 财年还剩一个季度的情况下，亚马逊重申，预计全年现金资本支出约为 2200 亿美元。为了说明这一点，该公司预测第四季度的净销售额将在 2400 亿至 2470 亿美元之间。得益于假日购物季，第四季度通常是零售商表现最好的季度。这意味着亚马逊预计全年用于资本支出（主要用于人工智能）的金额，几乎与其第四季度的预期销售额相当。