Tech juggernaut Amazon (AMZN) is set to report its Q2 2021 earnings after the closing bell on Thursday. The quarter is expected to bring solid numbers for the company thanks to its Prime Day 2021 sale, but analysts have concerns about how re-openings could impact forecasts for Q3.
The end of Q2 also marks the end of founder Jeff Bezos’ tenure as CEO, and the start of the Andy Jassy era.
Here’s what Wall Street is expecting from the company in Q2, as compiled by Bloomberg, compared to how the company performed in Q2 last year.
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Revenue: $115.06 billion expected versus $88.91 billion in Q2 2020
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EPS: $15.75 expected versus $10.30 in Q2 2020
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AWS revenue: $14.18 billion expected versus $10.81 billion in Q2 2020
Amazon’s earnings come after Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook (FB) announced their own quarterly reports, with each company blowing past expectations for the prior quarter.
Amazon has been on a tear in recent quarters thanks to the pandemic’s impact on its e-commerce operations. With so many people spending time indoors and relying on delivery services, Amazon became a go-to for millions of Americans.
The company booked its first $100 billion quarter in Q4 2020 and also announced that it now has more than 200 million Prime subscribers.
But re-openings, thanks to the availability of vaccines and easier access to coronavirus testing, could weigh on Amazon’s Q3, especially given how tough comparisons will be to Q3 2020.
“For 3Q outlook, aggregated BAC credit and debit card data suggests some reopening headwinds in 3Q, with the COVID-driven uptick in e-commerce demand starting to fade and online penetration falling as store activity increases,” BofA Securities analyst Justin Post wrote in an note ahead of Amazon’s Q2 earnings report.
Amazon is also facing tough regulatory headwinds, including an ongoing Federal Trade Commission investigation into its alleged use of third-party seller data to produce and sell its own Amazon Basics-branded goods.
The FTC is also reviewing Amazon’s planned purchase of legendary Hollywood studio MGM for $8.45 billion to bolster its video offerings and better compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney+.
The FTC may become a bigger thorn in Amazon’s side thanks to the commission’s new chair Lina Khan. An ardent critic of Amazon, Khan, a former antitrust professor at Columbia Law School, came to fame after publishing an article for the Yale Law Journal titled “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” which calls for changes in the current antitrust regulatory framework.
Amazon is already calling on Khan to recuse herself from the commission’s antitrust investigations and the probe into its acquisition of MGM.
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