Amazon.com’s big spending plans on artificial intelligence are worrying investors after DeepSeek showed that developing the technology doesn’t necessarily require billions of dollars, AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth writes in a research note. Amazon plans more than $100 billion in capital expenditure this year compared to about $78 billion spent last year as the tech giant ramps up investments on data centers, chips and networking gear for AI. “That’s a huge outlay to stomach now and then a waiting game before it gets a positive financial return on the investment,” Coatsworth says. Amazon shares are down 3% premarket at $231.75.

There’s stepping on the gas, and then there’s flooring it. When it comes to investing in artificial intelligence, Amazon.com just did the latter. While reporting its fourth-quarter results Thursday afternoon, Amazon became the latest tech giant to project a major jump in capital spending for this year — even after a big surge last year. Amazon didn’t give a precise forecast but said the $26.3 billion of capital spending in the latest quarter was a run rate that will be “reasonably representative” of what the company will spend this year. That would equate to about $105 billion for the year, up 35% from last year’s total and far above the $86 billion analysts were expecting, according to consensus estimates from Visible Alpha. And because Amazon defines its capital spending as cash expenditures and equipment acquired under finance leases, net of proceeds from the sale of property and equipment, the actual

Amazon stock fell ahead of the open Friday after the tech giant’s fourth-quarter results on Thursday afternoon presented a mixed picture of the business. Earnings per share beat expectations, coming in at $1.86, compared to Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $1.49, according to FactSet. Revenue for the quarter reached $187.8 billion, against expectations of $187.3 billion, and up 10% on the year. But the company’s important cloud unit, AWS, provided the big disappointment for investors. AWS saw growth of 19% to $28.8 billion, missing expectations of $28.9 billion. The unit is closely watched because it’s a profit machine for Amazon. In the latest quarter, AWS had a 36.9% operating profit margin, versus 6.6% for the rest of Amazon. Though AWS represented only 15% of Amazon revenue, it accounted for over half the operating profit. The stock was down 2.6% to $232.60 in premarket trading Friday. Amazon’s advertising business is the

Amazon.com continues to innovate and raise the bar even as 4Q cloud-computing sales and the tech company’s outlook for 1Q came below analysts’ expectations, AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth writes in a research note. “Fundamentally, Amazon remains in great shape,” he says. The group can afford to try new things and even fail with some experiments because it generates significant cash flow, Coatsworth notes. This strength should be recognized by investors, he adds. Amazon shares are down 2.7% premarket at $232.33.

Amazon.com (AMZN) reported Q4 earnings late Thursday of $1.86 per diluted share, up from $1 a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $1.49. Net sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose to $187.79 billion from $169.96 billion a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $187.31 billion. The company expects Q1 net sales of $151 billion and $155.5 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect $158.56 billion. The company expects operating income for the quarter between $14 billion and $18 billion, compared with $15.3 billion a year earlier.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported fourth-quarter financial results after the market close Thursday. Here are the key highlights. What Happened: Amazon.com reported fourth-quarter net sales of $187.8 billion, up 10% year-over-year. The net sales beat a Street consensus estimate of $187.3 billion according to data from Benzinga Pro. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.86, beating a Street consensus estimate of $1.48. By operating segment, here were the net sales: North America; $115.6 billion, +10% year-over-year International: $43.4 billion, +8% year-over-year AWS: $28.8 billion, +19% year-over-year. The company reported operating income of $21.2 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $13.2 billion in last year’s fourth quarter. Here was the operating income breakdown by segment, with last year’s fourth-quarter total in parentheses: North America: $9.3 billion ($6.5 billion) International: $1.3 billion (loss of $400 million) AWS: $10.6 billion ($7.2 billion) “The holiday shopping season was the most successful yet for Amazon

Amazon.com shares slipped Thursday after it projected weaker-than-expected sales for the first quarter, even as it spent a record amount on capital expenditure to build infrastructure for artificial-intelligence services. The company’s net sales rose 10% from a year earlier to $187.79 billion for the three months through December. Its net income was $20 billion. Its sales were in line with analysts’ expectations, while its profit was higher than predicted. Revenue from Amazon’s cloud-computing unit, Amazon Web Services, grew 19% to $28.79 billion, slightly lower than the $28.87 billion that analysts polled by FactSet had expected. Analysts said they were closely monitoring this number after  disappointing cloud-computing results from Alphabet and Microsoft. The company projected net sales to be between $151 billion and $155.5 billion, lower than the $158.56 billion that Wall Street was expecting. Amazon stock — which has climbed around 40% in the past 12 months — fell around

Amazon (AMZN) late Thursday reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results, though the e-commerce giant’s revenue outlook for the first quarter fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Per-share earnings jumped to $1.86 for the three months through Dec. 31 from $1 a year earlier, topping the FactSet-polled GAAP consensus of $1.49. Sales increased 10% year-over-year to $187.79 billion, higher than the Street’s $187.31 billion view. Amazon expects first-quarter revenue of $151 billion to $155.5 billion, reflecting annual growth between 5% and 9%. Analysts were looking for $158.56 billion. The guidance reflects “an unusually large, unfavorable impact” of about $2.1 billion tied to foreign exchange rates, the company said. In addition, the 2024 first quarter benefited from the leap year impact, which added roughly $1.5 billion in sales. Shares were down 2.2% in after-hours trading. For the final quarter of 2024, sales at the Amazon Web Services cloud computing division rose 19% annually to