Amazon stock jumps 10% as AWS growth hits 18-quarter high

Amazon shares surged roughly 10% to $258 in after-hours trading on July 30, 2026, their highest level since early June, after the company reported second-quarter results that eclipsed expectations and Chief Executive Andy Jassy detailed how its massive artificial-intelligence investments will pay off. Revenue rose 20% to $200 billion, beating the $196.47 billion consensus, while operating income climbed 43% to $27.46 billion, above the $23.57 billion forecast. Both exceeded the top end of Amazon’s own prior outlook. Amazon Web Services, the high-margin cloud unit, accelerated revenue growth to 37%, the fastest pace in 18 quarters, bringing in $42.23 billion. Its AI business is now at an annual run rate of more than $25 billion, growing at a triple-digit clip. The AWS backlog stood at $496 billion, boosted by a $100 billion collaboration with AI startup Anthropic. Capital spending jumped to $53.1 billion in the quarter from $44 billion in the first. Management raised its full-year capex forecast by $20 billion to $220 billion, mainly due to higher memory costs. Unlike Alphabet and Meta Platforms, whose shares fell after their recent capex increases, Amazon’s stock rallied. Jassy told analysts the company has a clear line of sight to attractive returns as data center capacity fills up. “As we get a few years out and the revenue growth outpaces the incremental capex growth,” he said, “the resulting revenue, free cash flow and return on invested capital is very compelling.” The surge helped reverse a slide that began in May, when a broader market rethink of the payoffs from AI infrastructure spending knocked Amazon’s stock from around $275 to $232 by July 27. The earnings beat and Jassy’s detailed economics restored confidence. For the third quarter, Amazon forecast revenue of $197 billion to $202 billion, with the $199.5 billion midpoint slightly below the $203.9 billion consensus estimate. It projected operating income between $22.5 billion and $26.5 billion.