JD.com shares take off despite slowing revenue growth – TechCrunch
What happened: Shares of JD.com surged after the Chinese online retailer recorded better-than-expected fourth quarter and annual earnings. Fourth quarter net revenue rose 22.4% to RMB 134.8 billion ($19.6 billion) compared with the same period a year earlier, beating analyst expectations of $19.2 billion but posting the slowest quarterly growth since the company’s 2014 IPO. Net revenues for the full year were RMB 462.0 billion ($69.0 billion), a 27.5% year-on-year increase. Fourth quarter operating margin swung back into profit at 0.2% compared with operating losses of 0.5% the same period a year ago.
Why it’s important: JD has been shoring up revenue streams other than e-commerce, including offering its logistics services to other retailers like Rakuten and boosting ads on its marketplace platform. It is also refocusing internally with plans to hire 15,000 more front line workers while cutting high-level executives. Against the backdrop, beating expectations and improve margin was enough to trigger investor interest.