Amazon’s stock surged over 10% Friday morning after its third-quarter earnings blew past expectations, driven largely by the explosive growth of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Despite a major AWS outage just days earlier that disrupted large portions of the internet, investors responded strongly to the tech giant’s continued dominance in the cloud computing space.
The standout metric: AWS posted a 37% year-over-year revenue increase, pulling in $24.7 billion for the quarter. That figure beat analysts’ projections and reinforced AWS’s leadership over cloud competitors like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. The earnings report marked Amazon’s strongest performance since early 2023 and pushed the company’s stock to its highest point in over a year.
Analysts quickly reacted to the news. Goldman Sachs raised its price target for Amazon shares from $5,500 to $5,700, maintaining a “Buy” rating. They cited AWS’s continued growth trajectory and Amazon’s strong positioning in the ever-expanding cloud market. The shift to cloud-based infrastructure across nearly every major sector has made AWS one of the most critical drivers of Amazon’s long-term success.
However, AWS hasn’t escaped scrutiny. Just over a week ago, the service suffered a significant outage that took down a massive portion of the internet. Beginning around midnight on October 20, an internal DNS error within AWS’s US-East-1 region caused widespread disruptions. Affected platforms included Amazon itself, Disney+, Reddit, Robinhood, Snapchat, Venmo, and even critical UK government websites.
While the outage raised concerns about overreliance on AWS infrastructure, Friday’s market rally suggests investors are still confident in Amazon’s technical and financial resilience. The strong earnings indicate that customers, despite the outage, are continuing to trust AWS with their cloud needs.
The company’s ability to bounce back from a high-profile failure and still post record growth highlights its central role in global internet infrastructure. As long as AWS continues to deliver strong performance and innovation, Amazon’s market dominance—and its stock price—appear secure.
