Amazon Q3: What to watch

Amazon (AMZN +7.5%) reports Q3 results after the bell today. Here’s what analysts are expecting (via FactSet) and what to watch in the details.
Revenue breakdown: Total revenue, $57.11B (guidance: $54B to $57.5B); North America, $34.02B; International, $16.5B; AWS, $6.7B.
EPS is expected at $3.08.
Other key metrics: Gross margin, 40.5%; operating margin, 3.7%; operating income, $2.11B.
Consensus for Q4 guide: Revenue, $73.79B; gross margin, 39.3%; operating income, $3.87B; operating margin, 5.2%.
What to watch: Last quarter, Amazon missed sales estimates and included downside guidance but didn’t suffer for it due to its sheer market size and growth potential. But look at profits, which were doubled in Q2 and upside guided. Check the Y/Y growth for Amazon Web Services. Competitor Microsoft reported a 76% Y/Y revenue growth for Azure yesterday but that was a deceleration from 90% last year. AWS posted a 49% growth in Q2.
Previously: Amazon +3.2% on Q2 EPS beat, 49% AWS growth (July 26)
Previously: Microsoft +2.9% on Q1 strength in cloud, Surface, and gaming (Oct. 24)