JD.com's Second-Quarter Profit Nearly Doubled as Revenue Edged Higher

By Tracy Qu

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com's quarterly profit nearly doubled, while revenue grew slightly amid fierce competition from Alibaba Group and PDD Holdings.

The Beijing-based company said Thursday that net profit for the second quarter rose 92% from a year earlier to 12.64 billion yuan, equivalent to $1.77 billion. The bottom line beat consensus estimates of 7.93 billion yuan in a FactSet Poll of analysts.

Adjusted net profit, which excludes share-based compensation and fair-value changes of long-term investments, among other items, rose 69% to 14.46 billion yuan, exceeding analysts' estimates.

Revenue for the period increased 1.2% to 291.40 billion yuan, higher than a FactSet estimate of 286.77 billion yuan. Operating margin was 3.6% for the second quarter, compared with 2.9% a year earlier.

Retail sales, which make up the bulk of the company's revenue, rose 1.5%, while logistics sales increased 7.7%.

"We remained committed to the sustainable and high-quality growth of our business in the second quarter," Chief Executive Sandy Xu said.

JD.com continues to face stiff competition in its home market from the likes of Alibaba and PDD. That contributed to a "highly promotional" 618 shopping festival in China this year as e-commerce rivals got more aggressive with price cuts to attract Chinese consumers, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a recent note.

The company's shares in Hong Kong have slumped about 12% this year, underperforming the benchmark Hang Seng Index, which is flat.

Rival Alibaba is also due to report its quarterly results on Thursday.

Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 15, 2024 06:46 ET (10:46 GMT)

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