• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechFortune 500

Why Wall Street Is Sticking With Amazon Despite Its Big Miss This Week

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 28, 2017, 11:28 AM ET

Amazon shares were off a bit over 3% Friday morning to $1,013.75 a share after the company missed second quarter earnings estimates. But that didn’t faze most Wall Street analysts.

Amazon (AMZN) revenue of $38 billion beat consensus estimates of $37.2 billion, but earnings per share came in at 40 cents— far below analysts expectations of $1.42. That large discrepancy was due, in part, to higher marketing costs, which jumped 44% year over year to $2.2 billion from $1.5 billion and spending on infrastructure including new data centers for the Amazon Web Services cloud business and fulfillment centers for retail operations.

Amazon, which is also building a video content business, saw spending on “technology and content” ballooning 43% to almost $5.2 billion from $3.9 billion a year ago.

But analysts—who seem to trust Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his continued pledge to keep pouring money back into the company—remained largely bullish.

That investment will support growth and help Amazon “reinforce its competitive moats,” wrote Jefferies analyst Brian Fitzgerald, who stuck with his “buy” rating.

RBC Capital Markets’ analyst Mark Mahaney said the sectors that Amazon is attacking remain huge and relatively untapped.

“Amazon’s two key end-markets—retail and cloud computing—are still only 10-15% penetrated,” he wrote. He maintains his “outperform” rating on the company.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Goldman Sachs (GS) analyst Heath Terry concurred: “We continue to believe that we are in the early stages of the shift of compute to the cloud and the transition of traditional retail online and that the market is under-estimating the long-term financial impact of both to Amazon.”

Amazon is the leader in public cloud computing, a model in which businesses put computing operations and data storage into data centers operated by a third party instead of building more of their own facilities. Amazon was first into that market and remains the largest player, but it also faces more competition from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google.

And Amazon also leads in e-commerce and retail, where it competes with Walmart (WMT) and virtually every other brick and mortar retail company on the planet.

Related: Amazon Cloud on Track to Rake In $16 Billion This Year

James Cakmak, an Internet analyst for brokerage firm Monness Crespi Hardt, sounded a cautionary note, pointing out that pressure on Amazon’s gross margins will likely continue.

Cakmak noted: “We still see Amazon home to the greatest regulatory risk in the FANG group.” (FANG stands for Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.)

Earlier this year, Amazon warned that potential trade restrictions by the Trump administration could be an issue for the company

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

Latest in Tech

Detroit, Michigan, Residents picket DTE Energy, opposing the electric utility's plan to provide power for a proposed $7 billion data center in rural Michigan.
EnvironmentData centers
A grassroots NIMBY revolt is turning voters in Republican strongholds against the AI data-center boom
By Eva RoytburgDecember 16, 2025
1 hour ago
Paramount
BankingM&A
Warner Bros. is blockbuster finale to $4.5 trillion M&A haul
By Michelle F. Davis, David Carnevali, Ryan Gould, Swetha Gopinath and BloombergDecember 15, 2025
10 hours ago
slop
CybersecurityCulture
The word of the year is ‘slop,’ Merriam-Webster says
By Anna Furman and The Associated PressDecember 15, 2025
11 hours ago
C-Suitechief financial officer (CFO)
‘2026 has to be a year of execution’: AI investment pressures, supply-chain risks, and strategy misalignment are all on the line for CFOs
By Alex Zank and CFO BrewDecember 15, 2025
12 hours ago
Photo of Jim Farley
North AmericaAutos
Ford writes down $19.5 billion as it pivots electric Lighting line of vehicles
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 15, 2025
12 hours ago
InnovationElectric vehicles
Rivian CEO says the EV maker’s new large driving model will one day allow for fully autonomous driving—and maybe a spot in the robotaxi race
By Jordyn Grzelewski and Tech BrewDecember 15, 2025
13 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
'I had to take 60 meetings': Jeff Bezos says 'the hardest thing I've ever done' was raising the first million dollars of seed capital for Amazon
By Dave SmithDecember 15, 2025
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Meetings are not work, says Southwest Airlines CEO—and he’s taking action, by blocking his calendar every afternoon from Wednesday to Friday 
By Preston ForeDecember 15, 2025
18 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Sorry, six-figure earners: Elon Musk says that money will 'disappear' in the future as AI makes work (and salaries) irrelevant
By Orianna Rosa RoyleDecember 15, 2025
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Deloitte's CTO on a stunning AI transformation stat: Companies are spending 93% on tech and only 7% on people
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 15, 2025
23 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, December 15, 2025
By Joseph HostetlerDecember 15, 2025
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
North America
Ford writes down $19.5 billion as it pivots electric Lighting line of vehicles
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 15, 2025
12 hours ago

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.