Amazon Q3 FY2026: record 13.9% operating margin, but EPS misses on lapping gains
Amazon's Q3 FY2026 was an operating triumph and a headline-earnings miss: revenue rose 12.1% to $201.94 billion and operating income hit a record $28.08 billion, yet EPS of $1.89 fell short of the $2.003 consensus because last year's quarter carried $9.5 billion of Anthropic investment gains. Read the quarter through operating margin (13.9%) and AWS growth (39.3%), not the bottom line.
1 · Expected vs. Actual
Free preview belowDiluted EPS of $1.89 came in about 5.6% below the $2.003 consensus, and net income fell 2.4% to $20.69 billion. The gap is below the operating line: last year's quarter included $9.5 billion of pre-tax Anthropic investment gains, while this quarter's non-operating line was a $0.70 billion expense. Operating income actually jumped 61.2% to $28.08 billion.
Revenue of $201.94 billion rose 12.1% from $180.17 billion, landing just above the $199.5 billion guidance midpoint. Management flags that Prime Day moved into Q2 this year; excluding that shift, growth would have been about 400 basis points higher. AWS did the heavy lifting at $45.98 billion, up 39.3%.
Q4 revenue is guided to $240.0–$247.0 billion, a midpoint of $243.5 billion that implies 14.1% growth inside a 12%–16% range. Operating income is guided to $28.5–$33.5 billion versus $25.0 billion a year ago. The company still expects roughly $220 billion of 2026 cash capex.
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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 2026-11-03
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