30 April 2026
If you are covering Amazon’s latest financial results, please find below a comment from Mamta Valechha, consumer discretionary analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
“In what was a crowded day among the tech giants, Amazon delivered a fairly solid set of first quarter numbers. Group revenues were up 17%, coming in ahead of consensus expectations, and operating margins accelerated to 13.1%, also ahead.
“Investors are watching closely for any signs of cracks in the demand for AI, or excessive capex from the hyperscalers. AWS revenue growth accelerated to 28%, and although this was below buyside expectations it still represented a notable shift and the fastest growth for more than three years. Meanwhile its margins of 37.7%, expanded sequentially, highlighting the demand for AI continues to show no signs of slowing down. Indeed, Amazon noted that its backlog is growing 50% sequentially to around $365bn, which excluded the recently announced Anthropic deal for over $100bn, highlighting the growing momentum within its AI/cloud business. Despite high capex meaning concerns will continue to persist, Amazon is delivering on the AI front just now.
“Meanwhile, within the ecommerce business, North America revenue grew 12% and International was up 19% year-on-year, both regions suggesting a resilient consumer in the face of macroeconomic challenges.
“As for guidance for the next quarter, revenue came in ahead of expectations at the midpoint, benefitting to some extent of the shift of Prime Day into the second quarter, and guidance for operating income bracketed that of consensus. Amazon did not change its guided $200bn of capital expenditures for 2026. Amazon is delivering the goods in both retail markets, and is capturing share in AWS, and their right to win across their core businesses remains as good as anyone.”
