Amazon slides on light fourth-quarter sales estimates, cash burn

Amazon reported a significant cash burn of $42.4 billion in the third quarter, driven by capital expenditure of $77.26 billion that exceeded expectations by $20 billion. The company's revenue forecast for the fourth quarter was below Wall Street estimates, with projections of $240.0 billion to $247.0 billion, compared to the average estimate of $244.51 billion.

This led to a decline in the company's shares, with investors selling off about 5% in extended trading, bringing the price down to $243.79. Amazon's cash burn in the prior quarter was $7.6 billion, while it generated $14.8 billion in revenue during the same period. The cloud business, Amazon Web Services, reported a 39% rise in revenue to $46 billion in the third quarter, surpassing expectations of a 38.2% increase to $45.61 billion.

Despite the disappointing fourth-quarter outlook, the company has maintained its annual capital spending forecast of around $220 billion.