Amazon 4Q Sales Expected to Ease AI Laggard Concerns -- Earnings Preview

Dow Jones06:26

By Katherine Hamilton

 

Amazon.com is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter financial results after the market closes on Thursday. Here is what to know.

REVENUE: The e-commerce and tech conglomerate is expected to report $211.44 billion in sales, compared with $187.79 billion in the previous fourth quarter, according to FactSet.

NET INCOME: The Seattle, Wash., company is expected to post a profit of $21.18 billion, compared with $20 billion the year before, according to FactSet.

EARNINGS PER SHARE: Earnings are expected to come in at $1.97 a share, compared with $1.86 a share the prior year.

The stock has fallen 6.5% during the past three months and recently traded around $233.96.

WHAT TO WATCH

-- Amazon is one of the worst performers among the Magnificent 7, as investors are worried it is lagging in the AI race, Deutsche bank analysts say. The company has slower cloud growth compared to some rivals and hasn't kept up with Google and Microsoft in offering generative AI models and consumer-facing chatbots. Positive fourth-quarter earnings won't be a silver bullet, but the analysts expect it could boost sentiment a bit.

-- On the e-commerce side, retail sales have stayed relatively healthy, but consumer confidence still hasn't rebounded, BMO analyst Brian Pitz says. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index for January dropped to its lowest level since 2014, which Pitz says could be a sign of uncertainty for spending through 2026.

-- In terms of advertising, online and large-cap advertising is expected to increase in 2026, fueled by AI-driven shifts in the ad industry, Mizuho analyst Lloyd Walmsley says. Amazon is considered a leader compared with peer advertising platforms Alphabet, Snap and Pinterest.

 

Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2026 17:26 ET (22:26 GMT)

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