China e-commerce firm JD.com early Friday reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, though sales were a hair light. JD stock wavered on the news.
The Beijing-based company reported adjusted earnings of 88 cents per U.S. share on revenue of $34.2 billion. Analysts expected JD earnings of 69 cents a share on revenue of $34.3 billion.
JD stock wavered during morning action on the stock market today. Revenue jumped 11% from the year-ago period, faster than growth of 5.4% in the previous quarter.
The earnings report comes at a time when JD, Alibaba and other internet companies in China continue to struggle due to the convergence of forces that have created considerable difficulties for business operations. The reasons include macroeconomic weakness, a resurgence of Covid-19 shutdowns, burdensome regulations, inflation, supply-chain woes and higher logistics costs.
JD and Alibaba are the two largest providers of e-commerce services in China. JD is also a leading supply-chain-based technology and services provider. Annual active JD customer accounts climbed by 6.5% to 588.3 million from the year-ago period, the company said.
"Our pre-emptive efforts earlier this year to promote operating efficiency and financial discipline have proven timely and effective given the ongoing external challenges," said Chief Financial Officer Sandy Xu, in a statement with the JD.com earnings release.
Alibaba reported mixed quarterly results in the past week, as did China internet services giant Tencent Holdings.
Year to date, JD stock is down about 18%.
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