Amazon reports Q2 revenue up 11% YoY to $134.4B, a $6.7B net income, vs. a $2B net loss in Q2 2022, AWS segment sales up 12% YoY to $22.1B; AMZN jumps 9%+

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2023.

Amazon 2023-08-04

Context & Ripple Effects

Amazon’s Q2 comparison has moved from a $2B loss in the prior-year quarter to $6.7B in net income, while companywide revenue growth improved from 7% to 11%. That makes this report a profitability recovery as well as a top-line update.

AWS remains a central part of the story at $22.1B in quarterly sales, although its 12% growth is well below the 33% AWS growth reported a year earlier. The following year’s larger Q2 revenue and profit figures suggest the recovery became an important reference point for Amazon’s subsequent earnings trajectory.

First-order effects

Amazon returns to quarterly profitability on the reported comparison, and AMZN’s more than 9% move signals an immediate positive market response to the earnings reversal.
AWS contributes $22.1B of segment sales, preserving cloud as a major reported revenue stream even as its year-over-year growth rate slows.

Second-order effects

The gap between AWS’s 12% growth and its prior-year 33% rate puts greater focus on whether Amazon can sustain cloud expansion while improving consolidated earnings.
Amazon’s 12% growth in subscription-services revenue adds another growing recurring-revenue line alongside AWS, reducing the extent to which investors assess the quarter solely through retail sales.

Third-order effects

If this pattern persists, Amazon’s valuation case increasingly rests on the combined resilience of cloud and subscription businesses alongside retail scale, rather than on revenue growth alone.
The report illustrates how large platform companies can restore earnings even when a major high-margin segment grows more slowly; whether that is durable depends on future cloud and recurring-service growth.

The trend: Amazon’s earnings recovery reflects the broader shift toward judging large digital platforms on the durability and mix of their recurring, higher-margin revenue streams.

Discussion

@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on threads
Are you even a CEO if you aren't bragging about how everyone is hard at work sprinkling generative AI in every product? It's almost as dizzying as when everyone was exploring some application of...
@tcarmody.bsky.social Tim Carmody on bluesky
Pretty good news for Amazon after a pretty bad quarter last year [embedded post]
@thetranscript_ @thetranscript_ on x
The key takeaway from this Amazon earnings call on AWS is that things are stabilizing: “What we've seen in the quarter is stabilization” - $AMZN CFO [image]
@gregbensinger @gregbensinger on x
Amazon has ceded it website to outside interests — now 60% of units sold are from third parties. Likely explains the wildly varying quality of what customers receive
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
Almost every sentence in their press release that touches on @awscloud also mentions “Generative AI.” Remember, this is for the Q2. Everything in this screenshot was released in Q3. Their insecurity about being late to market with AI is palpable. [image]
@thetranscript_ @thetranscript_ on x
$AMZN segments net sales Q2 23 YoY growth rates: —North America: +11% —International: +10% —AWS: +12% In constant currency: —North America: +11% —International: +10% —AWS: +12% [image]
@jordannovet Jordan Novet on x
for three quarters now AWS operating income has declined year over year. AWS is still profitable, don't get me wrong, but we have never seen this happen https://www.cnbc.com/...
@stephen_geiger Stephen Geiger on x
$AMZN is a blowout🚀 Q2 EPS: $0.65 vs $0.35 exp Q2 OPER INCOME: $7.68B vs $4.72B exp Q2 OPER MARGIN: 5.7% vs 3.46% exp Expectations were so low they basically doubled. The bar was literally on the floor.
@jaminball Jamin Ball on x
Cloud Giants Update: AWS (Amazon): $89B run rate growing 12% YoY (last Q grew 16%) Azure (Microsoft): ~$63B run rate (estimate) growing 27% YoY (last Q grew 31%) Google Cloud (includes GSuite): $32B run rate growing 28% YoY (last Q grew 28%, neither are cc)
@jordannovet Jordan Novet on x
at least Amazon can make the argument that AWS op margin might have bottomed. we'll see [image]
@jennablan Jennifer Ablan on x
Amazon reports sales growth of 11% and issues optimistic guidance @CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/...
@zerohedge @zerohedge on x
Amazon segment breakdown [image]
@borrowed_ideas @borrowed_ideas on x
$AMZN 2Q'23 This was perhaps the best Amazon earnings call from my recent memory, especially on Amazon Retail. Not surprising that the stock was +8% in after hours. Here are my highlights from tonight's call.
@modestproposal1 @modestproposal1 on x
You can actually see the impact of covid, crypto, VC bacchanalia, cost optimizations, and beginnings of return to normalcy all in one chart [image]
@jaminball Jamin Ball on x
Very meaningful commentary about AWS cost optimizations during the Amazon earnings call. Everyone looking for when the optimization headwinds will abate. AWS suggesting that time is now! Last quarter AWS grew 16%, but they called out April growth of 11%. In Q2, AWS grew 12% (an..…
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
@awscloud The last four quarters' growth percentages went from 33 to 20 to 16 and now to 12. That said, law of large numbers is in play here. It's surprisingly hard to find $20+ billion in new annualized revenue every 90 days, y'know? https://twitter.com/...
@thetranscript_ @thetranscript_ on x
$AMZN headcount down 4% YoY to close the quarter at 1.461M.
@thetranscript_ @thetranscript_ on x
14. $AMZN CEO gives a detailed response to their challenges with grocery: “We're hopeful that we will find that format & that it gives us the type of results that give us confidence to want to expand more broadly. But we won't expand unless we see that type of resonance” [image]
@techau @techau on x
Damn mega beat by Amazon.
@thetranscript_ @thetranscript_ on x
A live $AMZN thread for the Q2 23 earnings calls: 1. A bird's eye view of the quarter: “Today, we are reporting a $134 4 billion in revenue and $7.7 billion and operating income both of which exceeded the top end of our guidance ranges” - $AMZN CEO @ajassy [image]
@thetranscript_ @thetranscript_ on x
Amazon with a double beat. CEO: “Our AWS growth stabilized as customers started shifting from cost optimization to new workload deployment, and AWS has continued to add to its meaningful leadership position in the cloud with a slew of generative AI releases” $AMZN: +7.7% AH [imag…
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
I fix AWS bills for a living. Amazon reports that the slowdown is due to “customers focusing on cost reduction.” Let's just say “citation is very much needed on this point,” as the story AWS tells does not match what I'm seeing in my subset of their customers.
@tanayj Tanay Jaipuria on x
Amazon's ads business is now at a $42.5B run rate still growing 20+% per year It's a bigger business than each of YouTube and Netflix
@divestech Dan Ives on x
Amazon monster quarter and will be front and center for the tech sector. AWS impressive and speaks to overall cloud tailwinds seen by Microsoft & Google. Apple: iPhone and Services guide looks solid and the Mac and iPad decline noise to Street; Overall A- night for Big Tech 🏆🍎
@patrickmcgee_ Patrick McGee on x
Amazon earned far more revenue than Apple last quarter — $134.4bn to $81.8bn — but Apple margins were 44.5%, so profits of $19.9bn were ~3x Amazon's.
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
“Inside Amazon, every one of our teams is working on building generative AI applications that reinvent and enhance their customers' experience”
@levynews Ari Levy on x
According to Amazon's earnings call, Amazon is a generative AI company
@ericjhonsa Eric Jhonsa on x
No big surprises on $AMZN's call. A few things that stood out: - They said Q2 AWS trends (less cost optimization, more new workloads, etc.) have continued in Q3, albeit without giving a revenue growth number. - A lot of time was spent talking up improved retail efficiencies due..…
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
Oh, right; it's Amazon Earnings Day. @awscloud revenue growth basically collapsed to 12% because you all finally listened to me about how expensive those Managed NAT Gateways are. Let's dig in.
@mattrosoff Matt Rosoff on x
AMZN good, AWS sales +12%, Ads over $10B. Stock up 7% AH https://www.cnbc.com/... https://www.cnbc.com/...
@rihardjarc Rihard Jarc on x
$AMZN Q2 ad unit revenue $10.68B, up 22%!

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