Key Points
On July 30, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) reports earnings, and I think its CEO, Andy Jassy, will drop a bombshell that nobody is expecting. Amazon has been spending heavily on data center capital expenditures and is currently projected to spend about $200 billion this year — the most of any artificial intelligence (AI) hyperscaler. All of that spending is now translating into increased computing capacity, which allows clients desperate for more computing power to spend more.
This will cause Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) revenue to skyrocket, significantly boosting Amazon’s overall growth and profit picture. This could create the perfect storm that sends the stock price skyrocketing, and I think investors would be smart to get in before July 30.
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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Image source: Amazon.com Inc.
AWS is Amazon’s primary business
AWS may seem like an afterthought for a company that was built on commerce sales, but the numbers argue it should be considered Amazon’s primary business. Although it accounted for only 21% of Amazon’s total sales during the first quarter, it accounted for 59% of profits. Furthermore, it was the fastest-growing segment within Amazon, further solidifying its case for being considered Amazon’s primary business.
It’s rare for a wide-reaching business like Amazon to have a segment that’s both the most profitable and the fastest-growing, with the largest opportunity. And Amazon is spending heavily to ensure it captures as much market share as possible. Amazon also isn’t doing this without some commitment from clients. Jassy informed investors in his annual shareholder letter that most of this new computing capacity is already contracted, limiting the risk of overbuilding.
However, 2026 is just the beginning. All signs point to more expansion in the coming years, and if there is more demand for AI computing capacity, then AWS and its cloud computing peers are set to cash in. Should AWS have a blowout quarter and see its revenue accelerate to something in the mid-30% range, I think the market will reward Amazon’s stock by sending shares higher. With the stock trading at a fair price of 28.4 times forward earnings, I think it can rise a bit without looking overvalued.
Data by YCharts.
Amazon is a great stock to buy and hold in the AI era thanks to its AWS platform. I expect great news from Amazon on July 30, but we’ll have to wait and see how the market reacts to it.
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Keithen Drury has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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