JD.com reports Q3 revenue below expectations, shares down

Investing.com -- Chinese e-commerce giant JD (NASDAQ:JD).com reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue on Thursday, as ongoing economic challenges led consumers to rein in spending.

The company’s US-listed shares fell over 3% in premarket trading.

JD.com posted a 5.1% increase in total revenue for the third quarter, reaching 260.4 billion yuan ($35.95 billion), slightly below the market expectation of 261.45 billion yuan, as per LSEG data.

Net income attributable to JD.com's ordinary shareholders rose by 47.8% year-over-year, reaching 11.7 billion yuan for the July-September quarter.

“During the quarter, we were able to play an important role in China's trade-in program, thanks to our leading supply chain capabilities and fulfillment infrastructure that we've built over the past two decades,” said Sandy Xu, CEO of JD.com.

"We believe we’ve laid a solid foundation for sustainable operational and financial progress in the months and years ahead."

China’s prolonged property market crisis, along with a broader economic slowdown and rising job insecurity, has weighed heavily on consumer confidence in the world's second-largest economy, impacting retail demand.

While the Chinese government has proposed stimulus measures aimed at supporting economic growth, a lack of substantial actions to directly boost consumer spending has further dampened sentiment.

JD.com reported a Q3 fulfillment expense of 16.3 billion yuan for the quarter, up 7.2% year-over-year, surpassing the estimated 15.94 billion yuan.

Adjusted EBITDA reached 15.08 billion yuan, marking a 17% increase from the prior year and beating the forecast of 13.79 billion yuan.

The adjusted operating margin improved to 5%, compared to 4.5% a year ago, ahead of the estimated 4.49%. Additionally, the adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 5.8%, up from 5.2% last year, exceeding the expected 5.27%.