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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy looks on during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, U.S., February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

Amazon on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings that beat expectations on most metrics, but the results weren’t good enough to please Wall Street.

Amazon stock slid following the release and throughout the conference call. Shares were down about 7% Friday.

Profit guidance was weaker than expected, while cloud growth underwhelmed investors.

That overshadowed an otherwise upbeat report that included strong revenue and profits, steady retail growth and a 23% increase in advertising sales. Amazon also offered a rosy revenue forecast for the current quarter.

Here are three key takeaways from Amazon’s earnings:

AI spending boost

Amazon reported that it spent $31.4 billion on capital expenses in the last quarter, and the company expects that to be “reasonably representative” of its spending in the second half of the year. In the first quarter, Amazon’s capital expenditures exceeded $24 billion.

Taken together, it means that Amazon could spend an upwards of $118 billion on capital expenditures this year, up from its previous forecast of $100 billion. Amazon’s capex, which hit $83 billion a year ago, is primarily going toward building out tech infrastructure to support artificial intelligence demand.

Amazon’s competitors are also throwing big money at AI.

On Wednesday, Meta lifted its forecast for capital spending to a range of $66 billion to $72 billion. Google parent Alphabet raised its capital spend last week to $85 billion this year.

The question on investors’ minds is when these big AI bets will begin to pay off in revenue or profit.

Amazon boosts capex to more than $118 billion as AI cloud arms race heats up

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy hinted the company’s progress on AI has improved its “operational efficiency and business growth,” but offered few specifics beyond that.

Amazon has also said previously that generative AI is contributing revenue to AWS at an annualized rate equivalent to “multiple billions of dollars.”

On a conference call with investors, Jassy pointed to Alexa+, an upgraded version of its digital assistant, as a way it could monetize AI. The service, which launched in early access in late March, is $19.99 a month, or free for Prime members.

“I think over time, you could also imagine, as we keep adding functionality that there could be some sort of subscription element beyond what there is today,” Jassy said.

Jassy reiterated that it’s “very early days” in AI development and adoption.

Cloud rivals

Amazon Web Services continues to lead the cloud infrastructure market, but it’s facing steeper competition from Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, which posted stronger growth rates in their latest quarterly results.

AWS grew its revenue by 18% year over year, which just beat Wall Street’s estimates. That trailed the big gains reported by Microsoft and Alphabet. The companies recorded cloud growth rates of 39% and 32%, respectively.

Analysts asked Amazon leadership on the call why its cloud business isn’t growing as quickly as its rivals.

“There is a Wall Street finance person narrative right now that AWS is falling behind in generative AI with concerns about share loss to peers, etcetera,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak. The firm has an overweight rating on Amazon’s stock.

Attendees walk through an exposition hall at AWS re:Invent, a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services, in Las Vegas on Dec. 3, 2024.

Noah Berger | Getty Images

JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth said there’s been “significantly faster cloud growth among the number two and number three players in the space.”

Jassy said sometimes the company is growing faster than rivals, and vice versa, but AWS still has a “meaningfully larger” cloud business.

“I think the second player is about 65% of the size of AWS,” he said.

Jassy also appeared to take a swipe at Microsoft over a recent worldwide attack on its SharePoint collaboration software, saying AWS customers see a “very big difference” in security.

“You could just look at what’s happened the last couple months, you can just see kind of adventures at some of these players almost every month,” Jassy said.

The comments failed to sway some investors.

Bernstein analysts said Friday that the “tone wasn’t great” and Amazon’s explanation for its competitive positioning and trajectory “sounded less constructive than peers.”

“Words matter…but numbers matter more,” the analysts wrote.

Tariff risk better than feared

In May, Amazon warned it was bracing for potential uncertainty ahead linked to President Donald Trump‘s shifting tariff and trade policies.

At the time, products imported from China were subject to a steep 145% levy. That threatened to drive up costs for Amazon vendors and its millions of third-party sellers, raising concerns of price increases and a drop-off in consumer demand.

Since then, the U.S. and China have reached a truce, with China now facing a 30% combined tariff rate.

Amazon’s latest earnings showed the company seems to be navigating the tariffs and shifting trade policies better than Wall Street had feared.

Sales in its online store topped analysts projections and grew 11% year over year, while seller services revenue also beat expectations. The number of items sold in Amazon’s online and physical stores jumped 12%, indicating that the consumer remains “healthy” despite tariffs and economic uncertainty, analysts at Citizens wrote in a Friday note to clients.

Amazon’s third-quarter sales forecast, which implies 13% growth at the high end, suggests “tariffs appear to have been effectively absorbed by suppliers, merchants and customers,” Citizens analysts wrote. They have an outperform rating on the company’s shares.

Jassy struck a positive but cautious tone on the call, saying it’s “hard to know” where the tariffs will settle, especially when it comes to China.

“We’re unsure at this point who’s going to end up absorbing those higher costs,” he said.

A deal between the U.S. and China hasn’t been finalized, and the two countries have until Aug. 12 to reach a final agreement.

So far, Amazon has been able to weather Trump’s trade war.

“We just haven’t seen diminished demand, and we haven’t seen any kind of broad scale [average selling price] increases,” Jassy said on the call. “So that could change in H2. There are a lot of things that we don’t know, but that’s what we’ve seen so far.”

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Hims & Hers stock falls 10% on revenue miss

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Hims & Hers stock falls 10% on revenue miss

The Hers app arranged on a smartphone in New York, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. 

Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Hims & Hers Health fell 9% in extended trading on Monday after the telehealth company reported second-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s expectations for revenue.

Here’s how the company did based on average analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: 17 cents adjusted vs. 15 cents
  • Revenue: $544.8 million vs. $552 million

Revenue at Hims & Hers increased 73% in the second quarter from $315.6 million during the same period last year, according to a release. Hims & Hers reported a net income of $42.5 million, or 17 cents per share, compared to $13.3 million, or 6 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.

For its third quarter, Hims & Hers said it expected to report revenue between $570 million to $590 million, while analysts were expecting $583 million. The company said its adjusted EBITDA for the quarter will be between the range of $60 million to $70 million. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were expecting $77.1 million.

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Hims & Hers has faced controversy in recent months over its continued sale of compounded GLP-1s, which are cheaper, unapproved versions of the blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs. Compounded drugs can be mass produced when brand-name treatments are in shortage, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in February that ongoing supply issues had been resolved.

Some telehealth companies, including Hims & Hers, have continued to offer the compounded medications. It’s legal for patients to access personalized doses of the knockoffs in unique cases, like if they are allergic to an ingredient in a branded product, for instance. Hims & Hers has said consumers may still be able to access personalized doses through its site if clinically applicable. 

In June, Hims & Hers shares tumbled more than 30% after a short-lived collaboration with Novo Nordisk fell apart. The drugmaker said Hims & Hers “failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs” under the “false guise” of personalization.

Hims & Hers reported adjusted EBITDA of $82 million for its second quarter, up from $39.3 million last year and above the $73 million expected by StreetAccount.

Hims & Hers will host its quarterly call with investors at 5 p.m. ET.

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YTD chart of Hims & Hers Health.

–CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report

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Palantir tops $1 billion in revenue for the first time, boosts guidance

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Palantir tops  billion in revenue for the first time, boosts guidance

Palantir reports $1 billion in revenue for the first time

Palantir topped Wall Street’s estimates Monday, surpassing $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and hiking its full-year guidance.

Shares rallied more than 5%.

Here’s how the company did versus LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: 16 cents adj. vs. 14 cents expected
  • Revenue: $1.00 billion vs. $940 million expected

The artificial intelligence software provider’s revenues grew 48% during the period. Analysts hadn’t expected the $1 billion revenue benchmark from the Denver-based company until the fourth quarter of this year.

“The growth rate of our business has accelerated radically, after years of investment on our part and derision by some,” wrote CEO Alex Karp in a letter to shareholders. “The skeptics are admittedly fewer now, having been defanged and bent into a kind of submission.”

The software analytics company also boosted its full-year outlook guidance. For the full year, Palantir now expects revenues to range between $4.142 billion and $4.150 billion, up from prior guidance of $3.89 billion to $3.90 billion.

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For the third quarter, Palantir forecast revenues between $1.083 billion and $1.087 billion, beating an analyst estimate of $983 million. Palantir also lifted its operating income and full-year free cash flow guidance.

Palantir’s U.S. revenues jumped 68% from a year ago to $733 million, while U.S. commercial revenues nearly doubled from a year ago to $306 million.

The software analytics company has seen a boost from President Donald Trump‘s government efficiency campaign, which included layoffs and contract cuts. Palantir’s U.S. government revenues jumped 53% from the year-ago period to $426 million.

“It has been a steep and upward climb — an ascent that is a reflection of the remarkable confluence of the arrival of language models, the chips necessary to power them, and our software infrastructure,” Karp wrote in a letter to shareholders.

During the quarter, Palantir said it closed 66 deals of at least $5 million and 42 deals totaling at least $10 million. Total value of its contracts grew 140% from last year to $2.27 billion.

Net income rose 144% to about $326.7 million, or 13 cents a share, from about $134.1 million, or 6 cents per share a year ago.

Palantir shares have more than doubled this year as investors bet on the company’s AI tools and contract agreements with governments.

Its market value has accelerated past $379 billion and into the list of top 20 most valuable U.S companies, surpassing SalesforceIBM and Cisco to join the top 10 U.S. tech companies by market cap. Shares hit a new high Monday.

At its size, buying the stock requires investors to pay hefty multiples.

Shares currently trade 276 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. Tesla is the only other top 20 with a triple-digit ratio at 177.

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Palantir one-day stock chart.

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Firefly Aerospace lifts IPO range that would value company at more than $6 billion

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Firefly Aerospace lifts IPO range that would value company at more than  billion

Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim sits for an interview at the Firefly Aerospace mission operations center in Leander, Texas, on July 9, 2025.

Sergio Flores | Reuters

Firefly Aerospace has lifted the share price range for its upcoming initial public offering in a move that would value the space technology company at more than $6 billion.

The lunar lander and rocket maker said in a filing Monday that it expects to price shares in its upcoming IPO between $41 and $43 apiece.

Firefly’s new target range would raise nearly $697 million at the top end of the range. That’s up from the previously expected $35 to $39 price per share that Firefly announced in a filing last week, which targeted a $5.5 billion valuation.

Firefly announced plans to go public last month as interest in space technology gains steam, and billionaire-led companies such as Elon Musk‘s SpaceX rake in more funding.

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The industry has also begun testing the public markets after a long hiatus in IPO deal activity, with space tech firm Voyager debuting in June.

Firefly makes rockets, space tugs and lunar landers, and is widely known for its satellite launching rockets known as Alpha.

The company has partnered with major defense players such as Lockheed Martin, L3Harris and NASA, and received a $50 million investment from defense contractor Northrop Grumman.

Firefly’s revenues jumped from $8.3 million a year ago to $55.9 million at the end of March, the company said. Its net loss grew to $60.1 million, from $52.8 million a year ago.

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