Apple and Amazon Both Crush Earnings, But Wall Street Sees Two Opposite Futures

By Vandita Jadeja Published Jul 31, 11:00AM EDT

Quick Read

AAPL's beat leaned on one-time tariff refunds worth $0.11 EPS, while AMZN's AWS grew 37%, its fastest pace in 18 quarters.
Amazon surged 11.7% after earnings while Apple fell 1.4%, as Wall Street rewarded clean cloud growth over a tariff-padded hardware beat.
AWS's 39.4% operating margin and Amazon's 27 P/E versus Apple's 41 make it the preferred pick despite negative free cash flow.
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Apple and Amazon Both Crush Earnings, But Wall Street Sees Two Opposite Futures — © 24/7 Wall St.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) both delivered record June quarters after the bell on July 30, 2026.

Two mega-cap giants beat estimates on the same night, yet the market cheered one and shrugged at the other. The businesses behind those tickers tell very different stories about where growth comes from in 2026.

iPhones and Tariff Refunds Carried Apple. AWS Carried Amazon.

Apple posted $109.417 billion in revenue, up 16.36% year over year, led by iPhone at $54.252 billion and Services at $30.739 billion. Tim Cook called it “our strongest June quarter ever, with double-digit revenue growth across iPhone, Mac and Services, and in every geographic segment.”

Gross margin got a roughly 2 percentage point lift and $0.11 of EPS from one-time tariff refunds. Strip that out and the beat looks thinner.

Business Driver	Apple	Amazon
Main Growth Engine	iPhone + Services flywheel	AWS + AI infrastructure
Margin Story	Tariff refund tailwind	AWS margin at 39.4%
Capital Priority	$62.094 billion in buybacks	$54.208 billion in quarterly capex

Amazon delivered a cleaner growth story. Revenue hit $200.606 billion, up 19.62%, with AWS at $42.232 billion and a 39.4% operating margin.

Andy Jassy said “AWS is booming, growing 36.7% year-over-year in Q2, our fastest growth in 18 quarters, and our AI and Chips businesses each eclipsed run rates of more than $25 billion.” Advertising added 26% growth on top.

Cash Returner vs. AI Land Grabber

Apple runs its decade-long playbook: premium hardware, high-margin Services, and enormous capital returns. Nine months of buybacks totaled $62.094 billion, and R&D climbed to $11.73 billion from $8.9 billion a year ago, mostly for the new Siri AI rebuild introduced at WWDC26.

Amazon is doing something structurally different. Capex jumped 68.44% and free cash flow flipped to negative $7.6 billion on a trailing basis.

Jassy is spending against Graviton5 chips, Bedrock model expansion, Zoox robotaxis, and roughly 400 Amazon Leo satellites. Prediction markets assign a 98.4% probability that 2026 capex tops $170B.

The Market Verdict Was Split

Apple traded at $340 at filing and dropped to $313.22 an hour later, closing at $333.43, down 1.41% on the day. Barclays lowered the firm’s price target on Apple to $245 from $253 and keeps an Underweight rating on the shares while BofA reiterated a Buy rating and $380 price target.

Amazon jumped 11.7% in the hour after filing and finished up 3.9%. Jim Cramer flagged the AWS acceleration on air, saying “this is the same kind of cloud infrastructure business that made a fortune for Microsoft and that’s why Amazon caught fire.”

Barclays analyst Ross Sandler raised the firm’s price target on Amazon to $365 from $330 and keeps an Overweight rating while BofA raised the price target to $320 from $310 and keeps a Buy rating.

What I Am Watching Into Q3

For Apple, I want to see whether Siri AI can pull services attach rates higher and whether Greater China revenue of $18.816 billion holds without tariff noise.

For Amazon, the tell is whether operating income lands in the $22.5 billion to $26.5 billion guided range while capex climbs.

Why I Lean Toward Amazon After This Quarter

If I had to pick one on the strength of this report, I would lean Amazon. AWS re-accelerating to 37% with a 39.4% operating margin is the cleanest growth signal either company produced, and the 27 P/E leaves more room than Apple’s 41.

I am cautious about the negative free cash flow, and I would not fault a defensive investor for staying with Apple’s buyback machine and $0.27 dividend.

If you want a turnaround-style setup, Amazon fits. If you want a fortress with recurring cash return, Apple qualifies. My view flips only if AWS growth stalls or Apple’s Siri AI re-rates services higher.

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About the Author Vandita Jadeja →

Vandita Jadeja is a financial copywriter who loves to read and write about stocks. She believes in buying and holding for long term gains. Her knowledge of words and numbers helps her write clear stock analysis. She has contributed to several publications, including the Joy Wallet, Benzinga, The Motley Fool and InvestorPlace.