Amazon's (AMZN) stock fell 5% in after hours trading Thursday after the company reported third quarter sales guidance that missed analyst estimates.
The company guided to $154 billion to $158.5 billion in sales for the period, compared to analyst forecasts of $158.43 billion, according to Bloomberg data.
Even as the retail and cloud giant brought home earnings per share (EPS) of $1.26, beating estimates of $1.04 and surpassing profits and nearly doubling profits from the same period last year, investors focused instead on the report's weaknesses.
Amazon generated revenue of $148 billion, a touch below the $148.8 billion that analysts expected, but even the slight miss failed to impress.
The company's booming advertising segment, which has routinely grown by double digit percentages, continued to show strength, but that segment too came in just below expectations, registering $12.8 billion in revenue versus the $13 billion expected.
A bright spot of the report came from its cloud business, Amazon Web Services. AWS raked in $26.3 billion in revenue compared to the $26 billion expected and well above the $22.1 billion during the same time last year.
The report wrapped a wave of Big Tech results that have flashed warnings that investors have limited patiencefor massive AI spending. Any weakness in the core business has heightened the scrutiny on Wall Street.
Amazon's report arrived days after its cloud rival and AI competitor Microsoft (MSFT) beat expectations on the top and bottom lines but missed on cloud revenue, sending shares lower. Prior to that disappointment, Google parent Alphabet (GOOG,GOOGL) posted lower-than-expected YouTube ad revenue, which also sent investors running.
Meta (META), on the other hand, earned the applause of Wall Street, delivering better-than-expected results for revenue and profit, even as executives warned they anticipate "significant" capital expenditures in 2025. Shares gained more than 4% Thursday. Apple (AAPL) reported earnings alongside Amazon after the closing bell.
Hamza Shaban is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering markets and the economy. Follow Hamza on X @hshaban.
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