Amazon (AMZN)

Amazon (AMZN) stock was trading around 2.8% lower in premarket on Friday as jitters persist about its latest set of results.

The ecommerce giant reported its fourth quarter results after the bell on Thursday, beating on the top and bottom lines, but providing worse-than-anticipated Q1 guidance.

Amazon's (AMZN) guidance for Q1 was well short of the midpoint of Wall Street's outlook. The company says it sees Q1 revenue of between $151bn and $155bn (£121m and £124m). Analysts were anticipating $158bn.

In a statement, the company said its Q1 revenue outlook, "anticipates an unusually large, unfavourable impact of approximately $2.1bn, or 150 basis points, from foreign exchange rates". Amazon (AMZN) added the leap year in 2024 added $1.5bn to net sales.

“Investor concerns about big spending on AI-related infrastructure have moved up a gear and Amazon (AMZN) is at the centre of the storm,” says Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

“Last year we saw the first round of questions about how quickly companies would get a positive return on AI investments. Those concerns have now intensified as the big tech companies continue to throw billions of dollars on AI."

Even with AI spending jitters, the companies fundamentals are strong.

"It has never been afraid to try new things – if they work, great; if they don’t, it moves on," added Coatsworth. "Some experiments have been slightly off the mark, some were actual clangers, but it learns from each one. It can afford to take this approach because of the significant cash flow generated by the group. This strength should be recognised by investors, but it seems they’re fearing the worst over the very large bet on AI infrastructure."

Palantir (PLTR)

Palantir (PLTR) stock closed more than 8.9% higher on Thursday and looked set to continue its upwards trajectory on Friday following its fourth-quarter earnings report earlier in the week.

Over the last five days the software and data company's market cap has grown by more than 37%.

Palantir (PLTR) posted fourth quarter revenue of $827.5m (£665.7m), well above estimates of $775.9m, while adjusted earnings of $0.14 per share beat expectations of $0.11.

The AI software developer also offered a strong outlook for the coming year. For the first quarter, Palantir (PLTR) guided to revenue of between $858m and $862m and for the year, the company said it expected turnover to come in between $3.741bn and $3.757bn.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), said earlier in the week: "Palantir (PLTR) is the Michael Jordan of AI stocks right now, not only capturing investors imagination but delivering game-winning shots when it counts.