After-close AI-spend fallout: Amazon guides holiday quarter below Street, Intel flags PC headwinds; AI cloud and PC names tumble in late trading
What happened
Amazon and Intel reported after Thursday's close, and both fed the market's growing anxiety about AI spending. Amazon earned $1.89 a share against forecasts of roughly $1.97, on revenue of $201.9 billion versus the $202.2 billion expected. Capital expenditure came in at $77.3 billion against a consensus of $58.67 billion, and free cash flow over the past 12 months was an outflow of $42.4 billion — it is the third big technology group in nine days to be sold on the cost of its AI build-out. Crucially, Amazon forecast holiday-quarter sales below Wall Street expectations, a potential signal of growing pressure on consumers as inflation picks up. Amazon held its 2026 capex plan at about $220 billion, and Amazon Web Services, its cloud arm, grew 39% to $46.0 billion, its fastest rate in almost five years. Intel beat on adjusted EPS ($0.52 vs $0.41 expected) but missed revenue ($16.5B vs $16.6B) and cited 'near-term headwinds across the PC industry,' with a memory-chip shortage driving up its costs. Amazon shares fell about 7% after hours; Intel plunged ~17.4%.
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Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- Amazon (AMZN) — EPS $1.89 vs ~$1.97 expected, revenue $201.9B vs $202.2B expected, capex $77.3B vs $58.7B consensus; holiday-quarter sales guidance below Street
- TTM free cash flow outflow of $42.4B; shares -7% after hours. AI cloud pure plays (CoreWeave, Nebius, IREN) fell 5.8-6.7% after hours. Alphabet (GOOGL) fell another 1.5% after hours on top of its ~13% regular-session record drop. Intel (INTC) beat EPS ($0.52 vs $0.41) but missed revenue ($16.5B vs $16.6B) and flagged near-term PC headwinds from a memory-chip shortage; shares -17.4% after hours. PC names HP and Dell fell 8% and 6.8% after hours; the semiconductor index also slid. Microsoft (MSFT) fell 1.5% in the regular session on reports of a $25B, 10-part bond sale to fund its AI buildout.