PREVIEW: Amazon.com Q3 EPS, rev seen rising with AI spend in focus

** Amazon.com AMZN shares down 2.1% on Thursday ahead of quarterly report due after market close

** Wall Street analysts see the online retail and cloud computing heavyweight reporting adj EPS of $1.57 vs $1.43 in year-ago quarter on rev of $177.75 bln vs $158.88 bln a year ago, according to LSEG

** AMZN met or beat rev consensus in 7 of the last 8 quarters while EPS beat expectations every time

** In July AMZN forecast Q3 sales above Wall Street estimates, but sold off >8% as it failed to live up to lofty expectations for its Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit even after rivals handily beat Wall Street forecasts.

** Investors in Amazon and big tech rivals have concerns the AI boom that has inflated valuations is headed for a bubble

** Shares in Microsoft MSFT down 3% on deepening investor fears about the costs of sustaining the AI boom as Weds report showed AI infrastructure spending for growing cloud services demand outpacing analysts' expectations; Meta META shares sank 11% after forecasting "notably larger" capital expenses next year thanks to AI investments.

** Shares last traded at $225.49 vs median PT of $265, up from $261.50 2 months ago, according to LSEG, which shows 72 analyst ratings: 20 'strong buy,' 51 'buy' and 1 'hold'

** YTD the stock is up 2.8% vs 4.2% gain for the S&P 500 consumer discretionary index S5COND and the Dow's DJI 12.4% gain

** AMZN options primed for a 6.9% swing for the shares, in either direction, on Fri; over the last eight quarters, on average, the shares moved 5.5% the day after results, according to Trade Alert