Amazon stock sinks 10% despite earnings beat on $200B capex shock

Amazon said Thursday it plans to spend $200 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, with a focus on artificial intelligence infrastructure, triggering a steep sell-off in after-hours trading. The stock dropped over 10% and fell below $200 as investors reacted to the scale of the planned investment.

The announcement followed solid fourth-quarter earnings, with revenue climbing to $213.4 billion and net profit hitting $21.2 billion, matching analyst expectations. Amazon cited a strong holiday season and 24% year-over-year growth in its AWS cloud business as key drivers.

The company also said it will close underperforming units to streamline operations. The layoffs, totaling 16,000 workers, announced last week, are part of these broader cost-cutting efforts. For the first quarter of 2026, Amazon forecast revenue between $173.5 billion and $178.5 billion, with operating income expected between $16.5 billion and $21.5 billion.

Despite the strong cloud performance, AWS generated $35.6 billion in Q4 revenue, investors focused on the spending outlook. The sell-off comes amid broader tech sector concerns over ballooning AI-related investment.