Amazon slides on light fourth-quarter sales estimates, cash burn

AMZN•2026-10-29

Amazon forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $240 billion to $247 billion, compared with analysts’ $244.51 billion estimate, and reported $42.4 billion in trailing 12-month cash burn. AWS revenue rose 39% to $46 billion in the third quarter.

1. Outlook and cash burn

Amazon forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $240 billion to $247 billion, largely below analysts’ average estimate of $244.51 billion. The company reported $42.4 billion in trailing 12-month cash burn in the September quarter, driven by capital expenditure of $77.26 billion, about $20 billion above estimates. It had reported $7.6 billion in cash burn in the prior quarter and generated $14.8 billion in the third quarter of last year.

2. Cloud revenue growth

Amazon Web Services revenue rose 39% to $46 billion in the third quarter, compared with analysts’ estimate of $45.61 billion. The cloud unit grew at its fastest pace in nearly five years. Amazon maintained its annual capital spending forecast of about $220 billion.