A JD.com distribution center in Beijing.
Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
Shares of JD.com fell sharply Thursday after the Chinese e-commerce giant reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ forecasts but slower sales growth.
U.S.-listed shares of JD.com (ticker: JD) declined 16.4% on Thursday to $52.16.
JD.com reported net revenue in the quarter of 275.9 billion yuan ($43.3 billion), up 23% from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were 2.8 billion yuan, compared with 1.2 billion yuan a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings per ADR were 2.21 yuan (35 cents) compared with 1.49 yuan for the same quarter in 2020.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected JD.com to report earnings of 28 cents a share on revenue of $43.5 billion. A year earlier, the company earned 23 cents a share on revenue of $34.6 billion.
The company said annual active customer accounts rose nearly 21% to 569.7million in 2021.
JD.com, like its peer Alibaba (BABA), has suffered from a regulatory crackdown on the tech sector in China in concert with efforts by President Xi Jinping to tighten control over the world’s second-largest economy. JD.com’s revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 23% was below the 25% gain in third-quarter sales.
Alibaba last month reported its slowest-ever revenue growth since the company went public almost a decade ago.
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]
