Why Amazon stock is down: $77B capex and a free cash outflow

Amazon shares were lower in overnight trading after the company reported third-quarter results on October 29, 2026, and the filing points to one place to look: spending. The press release, filed as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K, shows record operating margin and AWS growth of 39%. It also shows capital spending running far above last year, and a free cash flow outflow for the past twelve months. That is the context for anyone asking why the Amazon stock price dropped.

The filing does not say why the shares moved. It reports results and guidance. What follows is what the document shows, and the price moves Yahoo Finance displayed.

What the release and 8-K show

The 8-K is dated October 29 and reports results under Item 2.02. Exhibit 99.1 is the press release. Exhibit 99.2 covers non-GAAP measures.

Sales rose 12%. Operating margin was 13.9%, which Amazon calls its highest ever. Net income fell because Q3 2025 included $9.5 billion of pre-tax gains on Amazon's Anthropic investments, according to the release.

Prime Day also moved. It fell in the second quarter in most large countries this year, and entirely in the third quarter of 2025. Amazon says that without the shift, Q3 sales growth would have been about 4 percentage points higher.

AWS grew 39%, but spending grew faster

AWS sales rose 39%, which Amazon says is its fastest growth in nearly five years. The annualized run rate is $184 billion. This is the number our earlier report on the earnings led with.

Spending is the other half of the filing:

• Purchases of property and equipment in Q3 were $77.3 billion, against $35.1 billion a year earlier.
• Over the trailing twelve months, those purchases net of proceeds were $210.7 billion, up 82%.
• Trailing-twelve-month operating cash flow rose 29% to $168.3 billion.
• Trailing-twelve-month free cash flow was an outflow of $42.4 billion, against an inflow of $14.8 billion a year earlier.
• Amazon expects cash capital expenditures of about $220 billion in 2026.

The fourth-quarter outlook

For Q4 2026, Amazon guided to:

• Net sales of $240.0 billion to $247.0 billion, growth of 12% to 16%, including about 0.6 points of unfavorable currency effect.
• Operating income of $28.5 billion to $33.5 billion, against $25.0 billion in Q4 2025.
• Advertising revenue growing in the high teens.

CEO Andy Jassy said in the release that "our AWS investment in functionality and infrastructure is working."

How the stock moved

Yahoo Finance's AMZN quote page, as read on October 30, 2026, showed these prices:

• Regular session close on October 29: $243.79, down $10.81 or 4.25% from the previous close of $254.60 (time-stamped 4:00:01 p.m. EDT).
• Overnight session: $227.16, down $16.63 or 6.82% from that close (time-stamped 2:51:05 a.m. EDT; the page does not show a date).

Amazon's call was scheduled for 2 p.m. PT, after the regular session closed, so the 4.25% decline on October 29 came before the results were out. The overnight move is the one that followed the release. The page itself labels the 4.25% move with October 30, which conflicts with its own close time stamp, so treat the exact attribution of that figure with care. Overnight quotes are thin and can change by the open.

What we don't know

Amazon did not say what it expects AWS growth to be in Q4. The filing gives no cause for the share price move, and this article does not assign one. Amazon's next quarterly report will show whether capital spending keeps rising at this pace.