Amazon Stock Is Rising After The Bell: What's Driving The Action?

Amazon.com Inc AMZN shares are moving higher in Wednesday’s after-hours session. The company announced a $4 billion investment in small towns across the U.S. after the market close.

What To Know: Amazon announced plans to invest $4 billion by 2026 to expand its rural delivery network, with a focus on small towns across the U.S. in an effort to offer faster delivery options to customers in less densely populated areas.

The e-commerce giant said the investment will grow its rural delivery network to more than 200 delivery stations, creating over 100,000 new jobs in the U.S.

“Once this expansion is complete, our network will be able to deliver over a billion more packages each year to customers living in over 13,000 zip codes spanning 1,200,000 square miles — an area the size of Alaska, California and Texas combined,” the company said in a news release.

The news comes a day after Amazon shares sold off on reports suggesting the company planned to add figures next to individual product listings on its e-commerce platform to show consumers how much more they were paying due to Trump administration tariffs.

In a press briefing Tuesday morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the move a “hostile and political act.” Leavitt told reporters she wasn’t surprised, however, and proceeded to flash a copy of a Reuters report suggesting that Amazon previously partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm.

Amazon quickly issued a statement in response.

“The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen,” the company said.

Amazon shares appear to be reacting positively to the $4 billion U.S. investment announcement. The stock may also be getting a lift following strong reports from Microsoft and Meta Platforms. Strength in Microsoft’s Azure and cloud services segment, as well as Meta’s increased AI investments, suggests Amazon Web Services could show solid growth when the company reports earnings this week.

Amazon will report first-quarter financial results after the market close on Thursday. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $1.36 per share and revenue of $154.92 billion, according to Benzinga Pro estimates.

AMZN Price Action: Amazon shares were up 2.81% after-hours, trading at $189.73 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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