What happened
Shares of JD.com (JD 2.08%) were moving higher after the company reported solid third-quarter results this morning as it beat bottom-line estimates and showed solid growth across its e-commerce and logistics businesses.
As of 11:04 a.m. ET today, the stock was up 3.2% after trading as high as 7.4% earlier in the session.
Image source: JD.com.
So what
Revenue at JD, which is China's largest direct retailer, was up 25.5% to $33.9 billion, matching estimates, and annual active customers rose 25% to 552.2 million. Growth in services, which tend to have higher margins at scale, was a bright spot with services revenue up 43% to $5.1 billion. Product revenue growth was again slanted toward general merchandise, showing the company is increasingly penetrating new markets like supermarkets and pharmacy as it diversifies away from its core business selling electronics and appliances. Revenue at JD Logistics was up 43% to $4 billion.
JD's adjusted operating margin fell from 3% to 2.1% as the company stepped up investments in logistics and other new businesses like JD Property. And adjusted earnings per share slipped from $0.54 to $0.49, but that easily beat expectations at $0.32.
In the quarter, the company opened its first physical mall, offering more than 200,000 items from 150 brands, taking another step into offline retail. And it also added LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton's Sephora to its omnichannel service network, meaning items ordered from the beauty products retailer can be delivered within an hour from nearby Sephora stores.
CFO Sandy Xu said, "Our growing consumer mindshare helped drive the strong results for the quarter with more new and existing users purchasing high-frequency products such as supermarket categories on JD. We were also pleased to see our key strategic initiatives including the third-party marketplace and omni-channel strategies begin to generate positive results."
Now what
JD did not offer guidance in the report, but the results paint a picture of a company steadily growing in existing markets and finding new ways to expand its business. JD shares may also have benefited from a disappointing quarterly report from Alibaba, which issued weaker-than-expected guidance for fiscal 2022.
As JD management noted, the company is gaining market share, and the third-quarter results show that the business continues to execute on its growth strategy.
