Amazon fails to explain AWS relative underperformance
August 1, 2025
Yesterday I wrote, "Amazon famously doesn't care what it reports from quarter to quarter, but as a shareholder, I certainly do".
Boy, is that biting me in the ass this morning. Amazon looks set to open 8% lower despite yet another quarter of boot-stomping estimates, hugely impressive performance in retail and raising guidance, no matter what you hear to the contrary.
It all came down to the conference call where CEO Andy Jassey's steadfast refusal to break from Amazon's long-time policy of never guiding by business unit left analysts and investors frustrated, confused and inclined to ditch shares of $AMZN for faster growing competitors. "There are some times where we're growing faster than others and some times others are growing faster than us" mused Jassey, as the stock slid lower, "These are all really just moments in time".
In the context of this time, when Microsoft and others are seen as ripping share away from AWS and just reported huge growth, Amazon's famous long-term view of investing for "the future" rather than next quarter Jassey's navel-gazing approach hit the wrong note with analysts.
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