Amazon reported Q3 net sales of $201.94B, up 12% year over year, but missed the $202.31B LSEG consensus; EPS was $1.89 vs $1.96 expected. AWS was the bright spot, growing 39% to $45.98B. Amazon also posted trailing-12-month negative free cash flow of $42.4B and held 2026 capex guidance at about $220B. Intel guided Q4 revenue to $15B-$16B, below the roughly $17.1B consensus, and its shares fell 29% Friday, their worst day since the 1970s.
Amazon's heavy AI/data center spending is running ahead of cash generation, while retail and advertising were softer partly because Prime Day shifted to Q2. Intel cited PC market softness, higher component costs, and a fab explosion in Israel expected to reduce revenue by about $600 million over two quarters.
Amazon's Q3 EPS missed by $0.07 — $1.89 vs $1.96 expected — and ad revenue missed by about $1.2B, while AWS grew 39% to $45.98B. But the stock moves in the post don't match reported closes: Amazon fell about 6% after hours and 1.4% Friday, while Intel fell 29% Friday, its worst day since the 1970s.
Amazon's Q3 EPS of $1.89 on sales of $201.9B missed estimates, and its Q4 revenue guide is $240B-$247B; trailing-12-month free cash flow was negative $42.4B. Intel's Q4 revenue guidance of $15B-$16B did fall short of the roughly $17.1B estimate.
BIntel just had its worst day since the 1970s. Down twenty-nine percent Friday.
AAnd if you saw CoinGecko's post on X, the numbers were wrong. They had Amazon down eight point four, Intel down sixteen.
BAmazon didn't fall eight percent?
ANo. It fell about six percent after hours, then just over one percent Friday. Intel wasn't down sixteen—it was down twenty-nine.
BWorst since the seventies. That's the story.
ARight. But Amazon's earnings weren't all bad. Sales came in at two hundred one point nine billion, up twelve percent.
BMissed the Street by three tenths of a billion, and that's after a huge AI build.
AEarnings per share missed by seven cents. Dollar eighty-nine versus a dollar ninety-six expected.
BThe ad business missed by a billion two. Retail was soft because Prime Day moved to the second quarter.
AAWS grew thirty-nine percent to almost forty-six billion.
BAWS is the only reason anyone's still calm. But trailing free cash flow is negative forty-two point four billion.
AThat's capex. They're guiding about two hundred twenty billion this year.
BExactly. Spending like the bottom doesn't exist. Intel is a warning—guidance came in light.
AIntel's fourth-quarter guide is fifteen to sixteen billion. The Street wanted seventeen point one. They also had a fab explosion in Israel.
BAnd PC softness. Add it up, D.A. Davidson downgraded to neutral. Their summary: "Not fixed yet."
AThree words that sum up a decade.
BBut Amazon's spending is different? Come on. Negative free cash flow, stock down.
AJassy says AWS growth could top forty percent next year. He calls AWS a potential trillion-dollar revenue business in five to ten years.
BCould. The market doesn't price "could" after a miss.
AGoldman kept Buy and trimmed only five dollars—from three seventy-five to three seventy. That's not panic.
BThey trimmed after a sales miss and negative free cash flow. That's the polite version of concern.
AIt's one soft quarter. Cloud is still growing thirty-nine percent. Intel's problem is not Amazon's.
BWait—you can't just wave off negative forty-two billion free cash flow.
AI'm not waving it off. I'm saying the market is punishing one bad quarter.
BThat's exactly my point! Intel had a bad quarter and got a 1970s-style shellacking.
AIntel guided lower because of a factory explosion and PC demand. Amazon missed by a whisper and AWS is booming.
BIntel down twenty-nine, Amazon spending two hundred twenty billion with negative cash flow. The tape's nervous.
ANervous, sure. But Apple gets sold after a beat? That's not just capex.
BIf that were the whole story, Apple wouldn't be down. It just beat.
AThat's what one stock-notes account on X claims. Revenue around one fourteen billion, iPhone sales above expectations.
BDown two percent after a clean beat?
AExactly. So maybe the market is just in a mood to sell anything with a megacap multiple.
BOr the details are softer than the headline. Those numbers aren't confirmed yet.
ARight. Treat it as the account's early read, not the filing.
BMeanwhile, Thinksabio, a stock-simplified account on X, posted T-Mobile and Alphabet. T-Mobile beat on earnings and revenue.
BIt added two hundred seventy-four thousand postpaid customers.
AThat's a strong quarter for the wireless side.
BAlphabet, though—revenue just under the estimate, and operating income missed.
AThe search ad machine is slowing.
BOr spending ahead of the AI curve. Same theme as Amazon, less cloud cushion.
AT-Mobile's the opposite: no massive capex panic, but it trades like a utility.
BSometimes boring is what the tape wants.
AFor today, yes. Intel's worst day since the seventies, Amazon's cash burn, Apple's shrug.
BThe market's asking questions about AI spending. So far, the answer is sell first, ask later.