Amazon misses 4Q profit estimates despite better-than expected growth in cloud computing business

NEW YORK – Amazon sales surged 14% during the fourth quarter, helped by strong holiday spending and a better-than-expected growth in its prominent cloud computing unit.

But the Seattle-based online behemoth’s shares fell nearly 10% in after-hours trading as its profits came in slightly below analysts’ expectations. Investors also didn’t seem to like Amazon’s announcement Thursday that it was stepping up its capital expenditure to $200 billion this year, up from $125 billion last year as it sees opportunities in artificial intelligence, robots, semiconductors and satellites.

Wall Street analysts were expecting spending to rise to around $147 billion this year, according to FactSet.

The results come as Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs i n the second round of mass layoffs for the e-commerce company in three months. It has said that most of these cuts are part of an effort to reduce the workforce that swelled during the pandemic, not because of artificial intelligence.

https://www.click2houston.com/business/2026/02/05/amazon-misses-4q-profit-estimates-despite-better-than-expected-growth-in-cloud-computing-business/