Amazon Q3 Earnings: Digital Ad Revenue Growth Beats Google, Meta

In an overall positive earnings week, Amazon’s (NASDAQ: $AMZN) Q3 2023 report topped consensus estimates on top and bottom lines, sending the stock higher in Friday’s premarket. One of the report’s highlights was the company’s digital ad sector, which saw stronger quarterly growth than its main competitors. 

AMZN Climbs 5.3% in Premarket as Q3 Reports Surpasses Estimates

Shares of Amazon rallied over 5% in premarket trading Friday after the e-commerce and cloud computing giant reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter. 

Specifically, the company posted earnings per share (EPS) of 94 cents, topping the consensus estimates of 58 cents. Net income more than tripled to $9.9 billion, up from $2.9 billion, or 28 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. The profit includes the pre-tax valuation gain of $1.2 billion from Amazon’s recent investment in electric vehicle (EV) startup Rivian.

Revenue reached $143.1 billion, exceeding the consensus projection of $141.4 billion. This marks an increase of 13% and underscores that Amazon is seeing decent growth following a challenging 2022 marked by record-high inflation and rising interest rates. 

Amazon Web Services, the company’s most lucrative business unit, reported $23.1 billion in revenue, just below the analysts’ estimates of $23.2 billion. Meanwhile, revenue from advertising stood at $12.1 billion, compared to the expected $11.6 billion. 

The giant’s e-commerce business also recovered, growing 7% year-over-year, following a 4% expansion in the previous quarter. 

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Amazon’s Digital Ad Revenue Growth Beats Meta and Google

Although Amazon’s Q3 report was impressive overall, one of the highlights was the company’s advertising operations.

Boosted by improved ad spending by third-party vendors and big brands, Amazon’s digital ad revenue jumped 26% from a year ago. Google’s (NASDAQ: $GOOGL) ad growth in Q3 was just 9%, while Facebook (NASDAQ: $META) registered 23%. The revenue of Snap (NYSE: $SNAP) grew only 5% year-over-year. 

In the meantime, Amazon’s cloud segment saw a slowdown in growth in Q3. AWS demonstrated year-over-year expansion of 12%, lower than both Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: $MSFT) Azure jump of 29% and Google Cloud’s 22%. Analysts were expecting even stronger growth from Alphabet’s cloud section due to its recent AI efforts, and the estimates missed led to a major sell-off in its shares.

Given the strong Q3 report, where do you think Amazon will end the year regarding stock price? Let us know in the comments below.