Amazon & Apple Beat Earnings, Head Separate Ways

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The stock market bounced back solidly today after a rough Hump Day trade. Companies that performed well in quarterly earnings, like Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report), saw strong gains today, while others that disappointed, like Meta (META - Free Report) in its plans for AI (or lack thereof), fell off. The Dow gained +613 points, +1.19%, while the S&P 500 grew +121 points, +1.66%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw lots of big winners, +679 or +2.78%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 rose +39, +1.37%.

The volatility in day-to-day trading continues; we’ve been on something of a roller-coaster ride as of early June. Big moving pieces like AI investment and developments in the Iran war have a way of swaying market sentiment. But despite plenty of uncertainty on some of the bigger economic issues, Q2 earnings season rolls along quite successfully to this point.

Amazon and Apple Report Earnings After the Bell

Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) became the latest company to report a whopping $200 billion in quarterly revenues this afternoon — well, $200.6 billion, to be precise — when it reported fiscal Q4 results after today’s close. But the Big Kahuna was the earnings per share of $5.75, obliterating the Zacks consensus $1.83. Prime Day being moved up to Q2 may have played a role in this, as well as Amazon’s weaker current-quarter revenue guide.

Still, it amounts to the fastest growth Amazon has had in 18 quarters, thanks to stellar +36.7% growth in Amazon Web Services (AWS) to $42.2 billion in the quarter, +13.69% margins setting a new record high, and Advertising now making up +38% on Amazon’s total sales. The company announced negative free cash flow of -$7.6 billion, but when you’re bringing in $200 billion in three months, stuff like that seems rather manageable. AMZN shares are up +7% in late trading.

Apple (AAPL - Free Report) reported fiscal Q3 earnings of $2.02 per share, a nice beat above $1.88 analysts were expecting and +29% year over year. Revenues of $109.4 billion surpassed the $108.75 billion in the Zacks consensus. It’s another record quarter for the iPhone maker, even if unit totals are no longer part of Apple’s quarterly numbers. Guidance will presumably take place on the conference call. AAPL shares have sold off -4.4% on the news.