Amazon is scheduled to release its second-quarter earnings after the market close on Thursday, with analysts expressing optimism despite earlier concerns about tariffs and recession risks.
Wall Street consensus expects the e-commerce and cloud giant to report earnings of $1.33 per share on revenue of approximately $162.1 billion, according to LSEG.
These figures would represent year-over-year growth of 5.5% in earnings and 9.5% in revenue.
This upcoming report follows a stronger-than-expected performance in the first quarter.
However, Amazon’s last earnings guidance in May was cautious, with the company citing ongoing uncertainty tied to tariffs, global trade policies, and macroeconomic conditions.
Year-to-date, Amazon shares have gained 6.3%, trailing the S&P 500’s 8.9% increase.
Analyst sentiment and price target revisions
Despite the conservative guidance, analysts from several major Wall Street firms remain bullish on Amazon, revising price targets upward in anticipation of improved performance across core business segments.
Bank of America raised its price target from $248 to $265, citing strong second-quarter retail trends and increasing AI demand through Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Analyst Justin Post projects Q2 revenue of $164 billion, exceeding the consensus estimate.
UBS similarly lifted its price target to $271 from $249, with analyst Stephen Ju noting Amazon’s faster delivery capabilities, potential for e-commerce margin expansion, and new revenue opportunities through ad-supported Prime Video.
Wedbush Securities analyst Scott Devitt maintained an “Outperform” rating, increasing the target price from $235 to $250.
He highlighted encouraging U.S. retail data, robust AWS demand, and operational efficiency improvements as drivers of potential margin upside.
However, he cautioned that profitability expectations remain restrained amid AI investments, macro risks, and costs tied to Amazon’s satellite broadband initiative, Project Kuiper.
Cloud growth and AI momentum in focus
AWS, a key revenue and profit driver for Amazon, remains central to analysts’ bullish outlook.
Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak reaffirmed Amazon as a top pick and raised the price target from $250 to $300.
Nowak emphasized AWS growth potential tied to Anthropic, an AI company whose revenue run-rate reached $4 billion at the end of Q2.
He anticipates that figure could grow to $10 billion by 2026 and $19 billion by 2027.
Barclays and Deutsche Bank also expressed confidence in Amazon’s cloud prospects.
Barclays expects AWS acceleration in the second half of the year, contingent on improved GPU availability and AI adoption.
Deutsche Bank raised its target to $266, pointing to Amazon’s market share gains in the absence of fast-fashion competitors like Temu and Shein.
Analyst Lee Horowitz expects continued advertising momentum, declining service costs, and a strengthening earnings profile post-Q2.
Citigroup echoed this optimism, boosting its price target to $265 from $225.
Analyst Ronald Josey anticipates a beat on both revenue and operating income, noting progress in AWS infrastructure build-out and improving retail trends.
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