Amazon stock

Amazon's growth prospects have deteriorated, and its profits could be vulnerable as a result.

The information and opinions in this report are for general information use only and are not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any currency or CFD contract. This report has been prepared without regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any particular recipient. Sales and profits from Amazon Web Services have more than doubled in the last three years alone. Its share price is currently trading below where it was before the pandemic began and yet, the company is considerably larger now than it was back in 2019. Amazon, which is much more labour-intensive than its rivals, has seen its overall workforce more than double in size since the start of the pandemic but now, with earnings under pressure, Amazon is having to reverse this and start trimming the fat after announcing 18,000 job cuts. However, with that representing just a tiny fraction of its workforce, more could be on the horizon if growth continues to stall – especially in ecommerce. Sales have grown just once in the last five quarters and are expected to fall, albeit mildly, once again in the first quarter of 2023. That was the fourth consecutive quarter of slower growth and was slower than what markets had hoped for. One of the biggest concerns for Amazon investors is the slowdown at AWS. Wall Street believes topline growth will continue to slow over the next three quarters before returning back above the 20% threshold in the final quarter of 2023. Ecommerce sales declined over 2% in the latest quarter as the surge in demand seen during the pandemic continues to unwind. Net sales grew 8.6% from the year before in the fourth quarter to $149.2 billion, which came in ahead of the $145.7 billion forecast by Wall Street.

By Jeremy C. Owens. AWS and Amazon's first-quarter forecast also miss analyst estimates amid concerns about cloud growth; CFO says AWS will show 'slower ...

In the fourth quarter, AWS produced operating income of $5.21 billion on revenue of $21.38 billion, with sales growing more than 20% and operating income declining slightly. Ads brought in $11.56 billion in the holiday quarter, growing nearly 19% from $9.71 billion a year ago and beating the analysts' consensus. For the year, Amazon produced a net loss of $2.7 billion and revenue of $513.98 billion, up from $469.82 billion a year ago and the company's first annual sales total to surpass a half-billion dollars. The S&P 500 index has declined 10.2% in the past year while gaining 7.3% since the calendar flipped to 2023. He noted that AWS revenue growth rates had been hit by customers looking to cut their cloud spending, and "we expect these optimization efforts will continue to be a headwind to AWS growth in at least the next couple of quarters." Amazon reported an operating loss of $2.23 billion on revenue of $34.46 billion overseas, after a loss of $1.63 billion on sales of $37.27 billion a year ago. Any slowdown in AWS would hit Amazon's bottom line as well as its overall top line, and executives' forecast for the first quarter shows less optimism than Wall Street expected. Without those charges, Amazon would have exceeded expectations, and recognizing them in 2022 leaves a cleaner sheet for this year, when Amazon's ability to return to strong profitability will be the focus of Wall Street. "We're the only ones that really break out our cloud numbers in a more specific way, so it's always a little bit hard to answer your question about what we see," Jassy said to an analyst asking about the larger cloud industry, while referencing rival Microsoft's refusal to provide full financial information about Azure. Amazon was expected to post a loss for the whole year for the first time since 2014, but worse-than-expected holiday earnings actually led Amazon to the company's worst annual loss on record. (RIVN) stock, which cost Amazon $2.3 billion in net income in the quarter. Revenue increased to $149.2 billion from $137.41 billion a year ago.

Amazon, like Microsoft, is staring down a tough macro picture. Bad news from tech giants working in the cloud weighs on the smaller names in the space.

[ ](https://www.barrons.com/market-data/stocks/crm) ](https://www.barrons.com/market-data/stocks/snow)

Amazon's stock price has lost almost half its value during the year 2022. All the key numbers * Revenue: Increased 9% to $149.2 billion * Amazon Web Services: $21.4 billion * Advertising: $11.56 ...

As of the end of 2022, AWS has 96 Availability Zones within 30 geographic Regions globally, with announced plans to launch 15 more Availability Zones and five more AWS Regions. "We're just cautiously optimistic as we move into 2023 because we know that some of that is holiday demand that people won't cut back on," he said.AWS Region comes to India "2022 net loss includes a pre-tax valuation loss of $12.7 billion included in non-operating income (expense) from the common stock investment in Rivian Automotive, Inc., compared to a pre-tax valuation gain of $11.8 billion from the investment in 2021," said the company.

By Liz Moyer and Scott Kanowsky. Investing.com -- Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) beat revenue expectations for the fourth quarter but top-line results from ...

Amazon highlighted its 2022 holiday season, when customers bought nearly half a billion items from small businesses in the U.S. It said during its biggest Thanksgiving-through-Cyber-Monday holiday shopping weekend ever, small businesses in the U.S. Analysts had forecast adjusted earnings per share of 17 cents. Meanwhile, AWS - a major profit driver for Amazon - generated $21.4B, up 20% from the year-earlier quarter but slightly less than the $21.9B expected. Analysts had projected first-quarter sales of $125B. For the first quarter of 2023, Amazon said net sales are expected to be between $121B and $126B, or to grow between 4% and 8% compared with the first quarter of 2022.

Amazon's revenue grew 9% in the fourth quarter, which beat estimates. AWS posted its slowest-ever revenue growth at 20%.

On the call, management explained that it doubled its fulfillment network in just a couple of years, and it had added the equivalent of a UPS in delivery capabilities to keep up with demand during the pandemic. The company posted operating income of $12.2 billion for 2022, and revenue grew just 9% for the year. With the AWS growth story running out of steam and e-commerce losing billions each quarter, Amazon's fundamentals look weaker than they have in a long time. CFO Brian Olsavsky added that AWS customers have been focused on optimizing costs due to macroeconomic challenges, and that has impacted the growth rate of its cloud business. That slowdown wasn't entirely unexpected, as CFO Brian Olsavsky had warned about headwinds in AWS on the third-quarter earnings call, and the company's guidance called for just 2% to 8% overall revenue growth in Q4, implying challenges in AWS. It posted an operating loss of $10.6 billion for the year outside of AWS.

Despite Amazon's mixed fourth-quarter earnings report, analysts were encouraged by the company's potential for long-term growth and efforts to tame ...

[different for Apple](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/analysts-stand-by-apple-say-iphone-makers-flywheel-keeps-spinning-despite-disappointing-earnings.html), which [telegraphed that things are getting better](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/apple-telegraphed-that-things-are-getting-better-after-a-tough-quarter.html). [Both of those](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/apple-aapl-earnings-q1-2023.html) [companies missed](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/alphabet-googl-earnings-q4-2022.html) on the top and bottom lines. It enacted a hiring freeze among its corporate ranks, cut some projects, closed [some physical stores](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/amazon-is-shutting-some-fresh-and-go-stores-as-the-company-cuts-costs.html) and paused warehouse expansion. "We see Alphabet as a more defensive stock in the group in 2023 with more relative earnings stability given utility of search, expense flexibility, healthy margins that will minimize cash flow concerns, and opportunity to support the stock with buybacks," Bank of America's Justin Post said. [Apple](/quotes/AAPL/) and [Alphabet](/quotes/GOOG/), which also reported on Thursday evening. "Taking a step back, it's rare to see Apple miss and guide down in a quarter, but we believe the long-term positives from tonight's report outweigh the short-term negatives," [Morgan Stanley's Erik Woodring wrote](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/apples-long-term-positives-outweigh-earnings-miss-morgan-stanley.html). They also believe Amazon will prove it can withstand the economic turbulence and can continue to grow in the long term. [Arete Research's Richard Kramer on the outlook for Apple, Amazon and Alphabet](https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/02/03/richard-kramer-on-the-outlook-for-apple-amazon-and-alphabet.html) Amazon's fourth-quarter revenue increased 9% to $149.2 billion, topping analysts' expected $145.4 billion. [analysts are bullish](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/analysts-overlook-alphabets-disappointing-quarter-cite-confidence-in-ai-push-as-chatgpt-threat-grows.html) on its prospects for artificial intelligence and highlighted its strong core business. [Amazon Web Services](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/amazon-aws-earnings-q4-2022.html), which have been dented by the challenging economic environment. [Amazon](/quotes/AMZN/) fell 8% on Friday, a day after the e-retailer [posted](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/amazon-amzn-earnings-q4-2022.html) soft growth in its retail and cloud computing businesses and gave downbeat guidance.

Earnings at Alphabet and Amazon miss analysts' estimates. Fiscal first-quarter revenue of $117.2 billion at Apple falls 5% from a year earlier, marking the ...

related investing news · Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Ford, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta. CNBC Pro · Here's a roundup of quarterly earnings reports ...

[Upstart](/quotes/UPST/) — Shares of the AI lending platform dropped 7.3% after [Loop downgraded the stock](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/wall-streets-top-analyst-calls-include-aapl-amzn-tsla.html) to hold from buy. [Starbucks](/quotes/SBUX/) — Shares of the coffee chain fell more than 4.4% after the company [missed Wall Street expectations](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/starbucks-sbux-q1-2023-earnings.html) for quarterly revenue and reported a hit in its international sales from the Covid surge in China. [Ford](/quotes/F/) – Ford Motor shared shed 7.6% after [fourth-quarter earnings fell short](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/ford-f-earnings-q4-2022.html) of both Wall Street and its own guidance. [Apple](/quotes/AAPL/) – The iPhone maker's stock gained 2.4% after analysts said they could [look past the company's difficult quarter.](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/analysts-stand-by-apple-say-iphone-makers-flywheel-keeps-spinning-despite-disappointing-earnings.html) Apple [missed profit and revenue estimates](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/apple-aapl-earnings-q1-2023.html) for its latest quarterly print. Deutsche Bank also [downgraded shares of the automaker to a sell rating](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/deutsche-bank-downgrades-ford-cites-ugly-fourth-quarter-and-aggressive-2023-guidance.html), citing the fourth-quarter miss and doubt over Ford's 2023 revenue guidance. [Amazon](/quotes/AMZN/) – The e-commerce giant's stock tumbled 8.4% [despite a revenue beat](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/amazon-amzn-earnings-q4-2022.html). The company also reported a [slowdown in growth](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/amazon-aws-earnings-q4-2022.html) within its cloud business. [Generac](/quotes/GNRC/) — The battery backup company slid 6.5% after Guggenheim downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. Despite the tough earnings report, [ Bank of America reiterated the stock as a buy](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/wall-streets-top-analyst-calls-include-aapl-amzn-tsla.html), saying that they expect results in 2023 to be more encouraging. ](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/alphabet-googl-earnings-q4-2022.html)Alphabet's posted earnings per share of $1.05 missed Refinitiv analyst consensus estimates of $1.18 per share. [Clorox](/quotes/CLX/) – Shares of Clorox rose 9.8% after the cleaning products company posted an earnings beat. [Alphabet](/quotes/GOOGL/) — The tech giant saw its shares drop 2.8% following the aftermath of its [disappointing earnings report.

But that loss would be just about 38% of what the $254.5 billion gained the day before earnings were reported. Apple stock (AAPL) fell 2.4% in premarket trading ...

Alphabet's stock (GOOGL)(GOOGL) fell 3.6% ahead of Friday's open to reduce its market cap by $49.8 billion, but the Thursday rally of 7.3% had added $93.6 billion. And for Amazon, the stock (AMZN) shed 4.4% early Friday to cut off $51.1 billion in market cap, but Thursday's surge of 7.4% had added $75.6 billion. While that would cut Apple's market cap by $57.6 billion, the pre-earnings rally of 3.7% added $85.3 billion. Meanwhile, futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 sank 1.1% ahead of Friday's open, after the index jumped 3.6% on Thursday. But that loss would be just about 38% of what the $254.5 billion gained the day before earnings were reported. Apple stock (AAPL) fell 2.4% in premarket trading Friday after earnings were reported late Thursday.

Can Markets Continue To Rally? Markets have staged an impressive rally so far this year. This week alone through Thursday, the S&P 500 is up 2% while the Nasdaq ...

I’m interested to see how the market digests the jobs report. It will be interesting to see how the Fed digests this number and what, if any, impact it will have when they meet again next month. I’m also very curious how investors respond to the disappointing reports from Alphabet, Amazon and Apple. A much stronger than expected report showed 517 thousand new nonfarm jobs and a drop in unemployment to 3.4%. The unexpectedly strong report may have had the effect of higher expectations for other tech companies on Thursday. What’s interesting to note here is that the Dow, while at one time a good barometer for markets, has since become an antiquated gauge largely because of how it is weighted.

Amazon.com, Inc. beat on the topline for its Q4'22, but AMZN missed on earnings. Click here to read my earnings analysis of AMZN stock.

Amazon's valuation multiplier is that of a growth stock, but the company is now growing only in the single digits. The near-term growth outlook for Amazon is not good, and it indicates that weakening topline growth and the trajectory in Cloud remain two key risks for Amazon and its stock. With growth slowing down more broadly and now including Amazon Web Services, there is a considerable chance that shares of Amazon will resume their downwards revaluation. [4-8% in the first quarter](https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/2022/q4/Q4-2022-Amazon-Earnings-Release.pdf) and total revenues of between $121.0B and $126.0B, which is not an improvement over Q4'22 results. The growth rate of 20% was also only half of what it was just in the year-ago quarter: in Q4'21, Amazon Web Services grew its revenues at a 40% year-over-year rate. Slowing AWS revenue growth is a problem for Amazon chiefly because Amazon Web Services is the fastest-growing segment within Amazon, and its operating profits are responsible for all of the company's consolidated operating income. Amazon reported net revenues of $149.2B for the fourth quarter, showing a year-over-year growth rate of 9%. In Q4'22, Amazon reported just $2.7B in operating income, showing a decline of 21% year over year. [AMZN](https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AMZN)) submitted its [earnings sheet](https://seekingalpha.com/news/3931510-amazon-non-gaap-eps-of-0_03-misses-0_14-revenue-of-149_2b-beats-3_43b) for the fourth quarter yesterday, and the e-Commerce company disappointed in a number of ways. The international e-Commerce business had revenues of $34.5B, showing a year-over-year decrease of 8%. Amazon Web Services grew its segment revenues to $21.4B, showing a year-over-year growth rate of 20%. With Cloud now also weakening, the risk profile for Amazon remains skewed to the downside!

Wall Street was raising their target prices on shares of Amazon, as main street was selling. The e-commerce giant is about investing in a long game, ...

A team led by Mark Mahaney said that all four segments of the company, North American retail, international retail, AWS and advertising saw “sharply decelerating growth”, the first of those still gained share. Pulling some more “silver linings” out of the results, and also lifting their price target were analysts at Benchmark. “We believe AWS customers are pausing, rather than canceling spend, which suggests a quick turnaround once macro uncertainty subsides,” said a team of analysts led by Brent Thill. Analyst at Jefferies raised theirs to $135 from $125, keeping a buy rating on the stock. As Amazon negotiates larger and longer term deals with customers for price discounts, it will pressure [Amazon Web Services] margins in the near term, but reward the company in the long-term,” he said. But other segments of the business, notably advertising, have likely gotten so big they are getting cyclical and exposed to macro headlines.