Amazon Q2 FY26: revenue up 20.0% to $200.61B, but profit leans on a gain
Amazon's second quarter delivered the best operating momentum in years — 20.0% revenue growth, a 52.3% gross margin and operating income up 43.0% — and the real question is not demand but cash. Net income of $62.65 billion looks spectacular only because a $53.4 billion non-operating gain from the Anthropic investment flowed through it. Read the scorecard on operating profit, not on EPS.
1 · Expected vs. Actual
Free preview belowDiluted EPS of $5.75 crushed the $1.86 consensus estimate, but almost all of that surprise is accounting rather than operations: $53.4 billion of pre-tax non-operating other income, primarily from the Anthropic investment, landed in net income. Operating income — the cleaner read — rose 43.0% to $27.46 billion. Treat this quarter's EPS as a headline number, not a run rate.
Net sales rose 20.0% year over year to $200.61 billion, beating the $199.5 billion midpoint of management's own guidance. Growth was broad: North America up 16.0% to $116.18 billion, International up 15.0% to $42.20 billion, and AWS up 37.0% to $42.23 billion, its fastest growth in 18 quarters. Gross margin improved to 52.3% from 51.8% a year earlier.
For Q3 2026 Amazon guides net sales of $197.0 billion to $202.0 billion, a $199.5 billion midpoint that implies growth of roughly 9% to 12%, far below this quarter's 20.0%. Management says growth would be nearly 400 basis points higher excluding Prime Day timing, and flags an 80 basis point foreign exchange headwind. Operating income guidance of $22.5 billion to $26.5 billion still sits well above the $17.4 billion reported in Q3 2025.
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Figures on this page come from the company's original SEC filings. The analysis is generated automatically and checked against validation rules, but may still contain errors or omissions. Not investment advice. · Generated 2026-09-17
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