Amazon’s September-quarter results, reported October 29, missed both sales and earnings forecasts. Revenue rose 12% to $201.9 billion, just short of the $202.3 billion estimate. Earnings fell 3% to $1.89 a share, below the $1.96 estimate. Operating income of $28 billion was stronger than analysts expected. CNBC reported the shares down about 7% in Friday premarket trading.
The pressure point was cash, not a consumer promotion. Amazon had negative free cash flow for a second straight quarter, and the deficit was larger than in the prior period. CNBC said it maintained a 2026 capital-expenditure forecast of $220 billion. Cloud growth was the offset: Amazon Web Services revenue rose 39.3% from a year earlier to $45.98 billion, while online stores and advertising were weaker than expected. Intel fell about 25% in premarket trading after weaker guidance tied to a soft PC market.
None of those results is a posted price for an Amazon order, a cloud customer’s contract, or a household loan. Negative free cash flow means operating cash did not cover investment. It raises a funding question about the AI buildout, but no retail or cloud price cut was announced.
Did Amazon’s earnings miss lower what shoppers or cloud customers pay? No price cut was announced. The verified changes are a sales and profit miss, negative free cash flow, and a $220 billion capital-spending forecast.