Amazon's Alexa Learns to Check Out as Analysts Look Past the Cash Burn
Published on 11/07/2026 at 17:32 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Amazon has quietly widened the reach of its shopping assistant, flipping on Alexa for Shopping by text message for a small batch of invited US customers. The tool can search and compare products, track offers and price cuts, and — per company statements — complete purchases on the user's behalf. A broader rollout is slated for the coming weeks.
The move lands alongside another shift in Amazon's retail plumbing. Since Thursday, a tie-up with Uber Eats has been serving restaurant deliveries through Amazon's website and shopping app, with eligible Prime members paying no delivery fee on orders of $25 or more. Amazon says the earlier Grubhub arrangement ends as the Uber Eats partnership takes effect — a partner swap wrapped inside a feature expansion.
An Upgrade, and a Higher Bar
Phillip Securities lifted its rating on the stock from "Accumulate" to "Buy" on Monday, nudging its price target from $320 to $330. The brokerage pointed to stronger AWS growth and clearer demand visibility as the drivers.
The numbers behind that call came on October 29, when Amazon reported third-quarter 2026 net sales of $201.9 billion, up 12%, and operating income of $28.1 billion. AWS revenue climbed 39% to $46.0 billion in the same quarter, and diluted earnings per share came in at $1.89.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Amazon?
Guidance for the closing quarter of 2026 puts net sales between $240.0 billion and $247.0 billion, with operating income of $28.5 billion to $33.5 billion. Both are forecasts, not results — and the revenue band sat below what analysts had been expecting.
The Number That Weighs Heaviest
For all the operating strength, the cash picture is what sets the bar. Amazon reported negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion for the twelve months to September 30, 2026 — a sharp reversal from positive free cash flow of $14.8 billion a year earlier. Heavy artificial-intelligence investment is what's driving the swing, and it raises the stakes on future returns: the spending only pays off if the added capacity eventually generates enough business and cash.
AWS offers the strongest counterargument. Growth of 39.3% to $46 billion in the reported quarter makes the investment plans easier to justify — provided Amazon can convert that momentum into economic returns.
Texas, Water Rights and 550 Jobs
How concretely the expansion is being pursued showed up in Texas on Thursday, when Amazon detailed a planned data-center campus near Glen Rose in Somervell County. The project is expected to support at least 550 full-time positions and will draw on existing water rights leased from Vistra. The power and water arrangements described by the company make plain that execution runs well beyond simply standing up computing capacity.
Elsewhere in the organization, Reuters reported on October 28 that Amazon was cutting up to 250 roles in its Devices and Services division, hitting software engineering positions hardest.
Taken together, the picture is of a company pairing a fast-growing cloud franchise with fresh ways to pull shoppers into Prime — restaurant orders that slip Amazon deeper into daily routines, an assistant that can close a sale on its own. The strategic logic is easy to see. What matters more for the shares is whether that expansion eventually shows up as a sturdier cash position, not just another addition to the shopping menu.
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