Amazon, 2026 Q1 Earnings Results

01 Revenue, operating income and results versus expectations

Year over year · revenue 155.667 → 181.519 B$ (+16.6% · +25.852 B$), operating income 18.405 → 23.852 B$ (+29.6% · +5.447 B$).

Quarter over quarter · revenue 213.386 → 181.519 B$ (−14.9% · −31.867 B$), operating income 24.977 → 23.852 B$ (−4.5% · −1.125 B$), operating margin 11.7% → 13.1% (+1.4%p).

AWS revenue increased by 8.320 B$ year over year, and operating income rose from 11.547 → 14.161 B$. Retail also improved, with North America operating income rising from 5.841 → 8.267 B$ and International from 1.017 → 1.424 B$. The company reported total revenue growth of 15% excluding currency effects.

02 Earnings sustainability · From operating income to net income

A pretax gain of 16.8 B$ from the Anthropic investment substantially increased net income. Net non-operating income of 15.982 B$ in the consolidated income statement also includes interest and other items, so the two figures should not be treated as the same line item.

Core business improvement is visible in operating income, but there is no basis for treating investment valuation gains as cash earnings that will recur next quarter.

Operating income

23.852 B$

Net non-operating income

15.982 B$

Income tax expense

−9.560 B$

After-tax equity-method income/loss

−0.019 B$

Consolidated net income

30.255 B$

Net income of 30.255 B$ in the existing quarterly dataset is on a consolidated basis.

03 Cash flow quality · Net income → OCF → FCF

The adjustment for non-operating gains/losses in the cash flow statement is −15.632 B$. Depreciation, amortization and related items of 18.945 B$, stock-based compensation of 4.032 B$, deferred income taxes of 12.798 B$ and working-capital changes also affect OCF.

Net cash CapEx of 43.234 B$ is used, calculated by subtracting sale proceeds and incentives of 0.969 B$ from PP&E cash acquisitions of 44.203 B$. The release’s opening OCF of 148.5 B$ and FCF of 1.2 B$ cover the trailing 12 months and differ from the quarterly cash flows below.

Net cash payments for acquisitions and other investments in the quarter were approximately 15.4 B$, outside the FCF formula. FCF therefore does not deduct all company investment spending.

Consolidated net income

30.255 B$

Total net adjustments for noncash items, working capital and other items¹

−4.223 B$

Operating cash flow

26.032 B$

Cash CapEx

−43.234 B$

FCF

−17.202 B$

¹ Total net adjustments calculated as OCF−net income. This is not a single disclosed line item; it combines noncash items, working capital, classification differences and other adjustments.

FCF versus previous quarter · 15.990 → −17.202 B$, 33.192 B$ deterioration.

04 Financial capacity · Net debt and payment obligations

Net debt worsened by 33.147 B$ from the previous quarter. The carrying amount of current debt is 2.984 B$. It may differ from the principal maturity schedule.

An increase in cash and current marketable securities alone does not establish improved cash-generating capacity. Borrowing and investment-asset transactions should be separated from operating cash flow, while finance and operating lease payment obligations also exist outside the net debt formula below.

Common definition · Cash and current investments = cash equivalents + current investments and deposits. Debt = carrying amount of interest-bearing borrowings (current + noncurrent), excluding separately reported lease liabilities. This differs from total liabilities of 474.716 B$. Restricted cash, noncurrent securities and noncurrent deposits are excluded from cash and current investments.

05 Investment, capital allocation and cash returns

AWS growth supports investment demand, but current-quarter FCF is negative. The key is the gap between the pace at which new capacity converts into revenue and operating income and the pace of cash spending. Project-level returns or payback periods are not calculated from disclosures alone.

This quarter, cash CapEx/revenue is 23.8% and FCF/revenue is −9.5%. These ratios should not be used as a simple ranking of companies with different business models and FCF definitions.

06 Next-quarter and full-year outlook: implications

YoY +15.7%~+18.7% · QoQ +6.9%~+9.6%. Revenue comparison bases are 167.702 B$ for the year-earlier corresponding quarter and 181.519 B$ for this quarter. Growth rates are calculated from the original amounts.

Next-quarter operating income guidance is 20~24 B$. It assumes Prime Day takes place in Q2, so seasonal effects should be considered when comparing with the event’s prior-year timing.

RPO / Backlog

QoQ 244.000 → 364.000 B$ (+49.2% · +120.000 B$).

YoY 189.000 → 364.000 B$ (+92.6% · +175.000 B$).

Amounts committed under long-term customer contracts, mainly AWS, that have not yet been recognized as revenue; not Amazon’s entire order backlog · Contract balances are not equivalent to confirmed next-quarter revenue or cash inflows. RPO scope differs across companies.

Quarterly results · CY-aligned presentation

Amounts in B$. Based on the CY-aligned year of this report, the table shows all 4 quarters of the preceding year and the current year to date. Each fiscal quarter is assigned to the CY quarter with the greatest overlap in actual reporting dates, alongside its original FY/CY quarter and start/end dates. Amounts have not been recalculated into actual calendar quarters.

Indented rows are components or reference items for the parent metric. Net cash = cash and current investments − debt. Depending on the company definition, FCF may include additional adjustments such as lease principal and therefore differ from operating cash flow − cash CapEx. See the cash flow discussion for the detailed definition.