What happened
A week that started out well for Dada Nexus (DADA) only got better when the China-based retail delivery company published its third-quarter results on Thursday. As a result, its shares were up a very tasty 39% week to date as the sun rose on Friday, data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence revealed.
So what
On Tuesday, Dada Nexus set the stage for its encouraging third quarter by unveiling its performance on Singles Day. This is an unofficial but very popular holiday in China that commemorates, you guessed it, people currently without partners (it's also known as "Double 11," as it falls on Nov. 11).
The company was more than happy to divulge that it set new records for sales and delivery volume during this year's Singles Day. Total sales increased by 80% over those of the 2021 holiday, fueled in particular by beverages, electronics, baby skin care, and home decor products, among others. Somewhat oddly, Dada Nexus did not put a financial figure on either sales or volume for the 2022 event.
Two days later, the company published those third-quarter figures. For the period, it took in net revenue of 2.38 billion yuan ($333 million), which topped the third-quarter 2021 result by 41%. That was on a foundation of total gross merchandise volume (GMV) growth of 58%, to over 37 billion yuan ($5.2 billion).
Dada Nexus' bottom line also improved notably, with the company narrowing its non-GAAP (adjusted) net loss to just over 270 million yuan ($38 million) from the year-ago deficit of 450 million yuan ($63 million).
Now what
Investors were likely more cheered by Dada Nexus' expectations for continued growth. The company proffered revenue guidance for its current fourth quarter: It believes it will book 2.65 billion to 2.75 billion yuan ($37 million to $38 million). While that wouldn't match the third-quarter growth rate, it would still represent a substantial year-over-year improvement of at least 30%.
