Amazon stock surged past $285 after the company reported a blowout second-quarter earnings beat driven by accelerating cloud growth, with AMZN stock price jumping 15.32% on July 31 to close at $271.58 and climbing further in subsequent trading.
The e-commerce and cloud giant reported Q2 revenue of $200.6 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of roughly $197 billion, while earnings per share hit $5.75—far above the consensus forecast of $1.82 per share, according to Investors Business Daily.
Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud division, was the standout performer. AWS revenue grew 37% year-over-year to $42.2 billion in the second quarter, marking the fastest growth rate in 18 quarters, according to Yahoo Finance and CNBC. That acceleration surpassed analyst expectations of roughly 31% growth, signaling renewed investor confidence in Amazon’s artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure strategy.
The strong cloud performance justified Amazon’s aggressive capital spending plans. The company raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $220 billion, up $20 billion from prior guidance, according to Reuters and the Wall Street Journal. That increase reflects Amazon’s commitment to building out data center capacity to meet surging demand for AI-powered cloud services.
Amazon’s earnings beat came just days after Microsoft reported similarly strong cloud results. On July 29, Microsoft’s stock surged 14.8% to 15.63% after the company disclosed that Azure cloud revenue grew 43% year-over-year, beating expectations and topping $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. Both earnings reports underscored investor appetite for cloud infrastructure plays amid the ongoing AI boom.
The cloud computing market itself is accelerating. The global cloud market is expected to expand from $905 billion in 2026 to $2.9 trillion by 2034, according to Fortune Business Insights, as enterprises invest heavily in AI capabilities. AWS maintains its dominant position with approximately 28% market share, according to Statista data from Q1 2026.
Analysts highlighted the earnings beat as validation that Amazon’s massive capex spending on AI infrastructure is beginning to pay off. Jim Cramer called Amazon’s results “astonishing” on CNBC, noting that AWS profitability demonstrated the company’s AI investments were generating returns, according to Benzinga. The strong quarter also eased investor concerns about whether cloud companies could justify their accelerating spending on data centers and chips.
Sources
- Investors Business Daily — Q2 earnings figures (EPS $5.75 vs $1.82 forecast, revenue $200.6B)
- Yahoo Finance — AWS growth rate of 37% YoY, fastest in 18 quarters
- CNBC — AWS revenue of $42.2 billion, cloud growth acceleration details
- Reuters — Capital expenditure raised to $220 billion, $20 billion increase
- Wall Street Journal — AWS sales growth of 37%, capex forecast details
- Reuters (Microsoft) — Azure cloud growth of 43%, market context
- Bloomberg — Microsoft Azure revenue exceeding $100 billion annually
- Fortune Business Insights — Cloud market projected to reach $2.9 trillion by 2034
- Statista — AWS market share of 28% in Q1 2026
- Benzinga — Jim Cramer commentary on Amazon results as “astonishing”
