[Earnings Recap] Amazon Falls 7%, Intel Plunges 23%. What's Wrong?

Thursday’s earnings showed that rapid AI growth no longer guarantees a positive stock reaction.

Amazon reported AWS’s fastest expansion in nearly five years, but its shares fell as capital spending drove free cash flow deeply negative. Intel’s quarterly profit beat was overwhelmed by a weak forecast. Sandisk also slipped despite strong earnings and an 8-for-1 stock split announcement. Reddit plunged on slowing search traffic, while Eli Lilly rallied as demand for its weight-loss drugs continued to surge. $Amazon.com(AMZN)$ $Intel(INTC)$ $Reddit(RDDT)$ $SanDisk Corp.(SNDK)$ $Eli Lilly(LLY)$

$Amazon.com(AMZN)$ dropped 7.3% after hours

Amazon operates a global e-commerce platform, digital advertising business and the AWS cloud division.

Third-quarter sales rose 12% to $201.9 billion, slightly missing the $202.1 billion consensus. EPS of $1.89 also came in below the $1.96 estimate, although operating margin reached a company record of 13.9%.

AWS revenue jumped 39.3% to $46 billion, its fastest growth in nearly five years. Amazon expects AWS revenue to grow more than 40% in both 2027 and 2028.

The company’s trailing 12-month free cash flow, however, swung from a $14.8 billion inflow to a $42.4 billion outflow as AI infrastructure investment surged. Amazon still expects roughly $220 billion in 2026 cash capital spending.

Shares dropped nearly 7.3% after hours. Investors focused on the cash burn and a holiday-quarter revenue forecast whose midpoint fell slightly short of Wall Street’s projection.

$Intel(INTC)$ plunged roughly 23% after hours

Intel makes processors for PCs and data centers and is investing heavily in its contract chip-manufacturing business.

Third-quarter revenue increased 21% to $16.5 billion, roughly matching expectations. Adjusted EPS of 52 cents beat the 40-cent consensus, helped by Intel’s strongest data-center revenue growth in 15 years.

Its PC-chip business was weaker, with sales falling 5% to $8.1 billion. Management expects soft PC demand, partly linked to higher memory costs, to continue through at least the first half of 2027.

Intel forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion, well below the $17.07 billion consensus. Adjusted EPS guidance of 25 cents also missed the 43-cent estimate. A recent explosion at its Israeli factory is expected to reduce revenue by about $300 million in each of the next two quarters.

Shares plunged roughly 23% after hours. After more than doubling in 2026, the stock had little room for a major forecast miss or another manufacturing setback.

$Reddit(RDDT)$ fell as much as 18.8% after hours

Reddit is a discussion-based social platform that earns most of its revenue from advertising.

Third-quarter revenue climbed 53% to $895 million, beating the $874.9 million estimate. EPS of $1.40 topped the $1.33 consensus, while free cash flow nearly doubled to $363 million.

Daily active unique users rose 12% to 130.3 million, but referrals from search engines deteriorated late in the quarter. Search traffic declined by more than one million referrals per week on average in October.

Reddit projected fourth-quarter revenue of $1 billion to $1.03 billion, below Wall Street’s $1.05 billion forecast at the midpoint. Shares fell as much as 18% after hours as investors questioned whether slowing search traffic would translate into weaker user growth.

$Eli Lilly(LLY)$ gained 6.6%

Eli Lilly makes diabetes and obesity treatments including Mounjaro and Zepbound.

Third-quarter revenue surged 39% to $24.4 billion, beating the $22.61 billion consensus. Adjusted EPS of $7.48 was well ahead of the $6.26 estimate.

Mounjaro generated $10.72 billion in sales, while Zepbound contributed $5.35 billion. Lilly’s discounted Medicare pilot has already added more than 500,000 weight-loss drug customers.

Management raised its 2026 revenue forecast to $91 billion to $92 billion from $85 billion to $87 billion. It trimmed adjusted EPS guidance to $35–$36 because of acquisition-related research charges.

The stock gained 6.63% and touched a record high. Investors looked past the accounting charges and focused on continued volume growth, wider insurance access and Lilly’s leading position in obesity treatment.

$SanDisk Corp.(SNDK)$ fell approximately 3.8% after hours

Sandisk makes flash memory and solid-state storage products used in smartphones, PCs and AI data centers.

Fiscal first-quarter revenue surged 378% to $11.03 billion, beating Wall Street's roughly $10.72 billion estimate. Adjusted EPS reached $49.51, above the $46.67 consensus. Data-center revenue climbed to $4.8 billion, up 61% from the previous quarter.

Management forecast second-quarter revenue of $12.2 billion to $12.6 billion and adjusted EPS of $55 to $57, both ahead of expectations.

Sandisk also announced an 8-for-1 stock split, effective November 19, and repurchased $5 billion worth of shares during the quarter.

Despite the strong results, shares fell approximately 3.8% in late after-hours trading, following a 5.3% decline during the regular session.

The stock had already gained roughly 460% this year, leaving expectations exceptionally high. Investors appeared to be taking profits even as AI-driven storage demand continued to strengthen.

💬 Discussion

Amazon, Intel and Sandisk all fell after earnings. Which stock would you buy on the dip — or would you stay on the sidelines?

• A. AMZN — AWS growth remains strong.

• B. INTC — The selloff may be overdone.

• C. SNDK — AI storage demand is still booming.

• D. None — I'd wait for a better entry.

What's your pick?

After the latest earnings selloff, do you think the AI rally is running out of steam, or is this just a healthy pullback?