Amazon will report its holiday quarter 2023 earnings on Thursday. Wall Street expects earnings of $0.80 per share and record revenue of $166 billion, up 11% year-over-year.
Analysts will be watching growth rates for Amazon Web Services and advertising; potential impact from faster shipping times; and updates related to generative AI, which was the big theme at the AWS re:Invent conference in November.
Wedbush said in a recent report it expects Q4 operating income to exceed company guidance.
“Operating margin expansion is supported by rising fulfillment utilization, easing inflation, limited corporate headcount growth, and continued mix shift to higher-margin advertising revenue,” the firm said.
More recently Amazon has dealt with the termination of the company’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot due to regulatory pushback. It is also facing scrutiny from the FTC, which filed a lawsuit against Amazon in September and last week launched an inquiry into Amazon’s investment in AI startup Anthropic.
Amazon continues to trim its workforce and recently launched new advertisements within its Prime Video platform.
Amazon is among a throng of tech giants reporting earnings this week. Microsoft and Alphabet both topped expectations Tuesday, posting strong growth in their respective cloud units, but shares were down for both companies Wednesday. Apple and Meta also report this week.
Amazon stock is up more than 50% in the past 12 months.
