JD.com Q3 2025 Earnings: Revenue Beats Estimates as Profit Plunges on Costly Food-Delivery Push

JD.com beat Q3 2025 revenue estimates and hit 700M users, but profit was cut in half by heavy food‑delivery and marketing spend as JD stock rose in pre‑market trade.

Revenue beat: Q3 2025 net revenues rose 14.9% year‑on‑year to RMB 299.1 billion, topping analyst forecasts around RMB 294 billion. ^[1]
Profit slump:Net income fell to about RMB 5.3 billion, roughly 55% lower than a year earlier, as JD.com ramped up investment in new businesses and promotions. ^[2]
Core retail solid: JD Retail revenue climbed 11.4% to RMB 250.6 billion, with operating margin improving to 5.9% from 5.2%. ^[3]
Food delivery in focus: An aggressive push into food delivery and other “new businesses” drove operating losses at group level, but management says unit economics are improving and investment is being trimmed sequentially. ^[4]
User milestone: Annual active customers surpassed 700 million in October, supported by government subsidies, trade‑in programs and discounts. ^[5]
Stock reaction: Despite the profit drop, JD.com shares were up about 4–5% in U.S. pre‑market trading after the release. ^[6]

JD.com Beats Q3 2025 Revenue Forecasts Despite a Sluggish China

JD.com, one of China’s largest e‑commerce and logistics platforms, delivered a classic “good news, bad news” quarter for the three months ended September 30, 2025.

On the top line, the company reported net revenues of RMB 299.1 billion (around US$42 billion), up 14.9% from the same period in 2024 and above analyst expectations near RMB 294 billion. ^[7]

Several forces helped JD.com outpace the broader slowdown in Chinese consumption:

Government stimulus: Trade‑in policies and consumer subsidies encouraged shoppers to replace older appliances and electronics. ^[8]
Aggressive discounting: Like Alibaba and other rivals, JD leaned into heavy promotions and lower prices to tempt cautious households. ^[9]
More frequent shopping: Management flagged strong growth in both user numbers and shopping frequency throughout the quarter. ^[10]

The result: JD.com gained share and pushed sales ahead of expectations, even as China’s economic recovery remains uneven.

Profit Cut Nearly in Half by Food‑Delivery and New Business Investments

The flip side of those strong revenues is that they didn’t translate into stronger profits.

Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders dropped from RMB 11.7 billion to roughly RMB 5.3 billion year‑on‑year. ^[11]
On an adjusted (non‑GAAP) basis, net income fell from about RMB 13.2 billion to RMB 5.8 billion. ^[12]
Group operating line: JD swung from RMB 12.0 billion in operating profit a year ago to a loss of roughly RMB 1.1 billion this quarter, as startup‑like businesses burned cash. ^[13]

Earnings per share tell the same story:

EPS per share: RMB 1.69 vs. RMB 3.86 a year earlier
EPS per ADS: RMB 3.39 vs. RMB 7.73
Adjusted EPS per ADS: RMB 3.73 vs. RMB 8.68 ^[14]

JD.com still beat the Street on revenue, but missed consensus on earnings per share, with analysts previously looking for around RMB 2.89 per share. ^[15]

The main culprit: escalating spending on marketing and “New Businesses” such as food delivery, which require high upfront investment and subsidies to gain scale. QuiverQuant’s AI summary of the company’s GlobeNewswire release notes that marketing expenses alone surged over 110% year‑on‑year to about RMB 21.1 billion, and that these newer operations were responsible for most of the deterioration in group profitability. ^[16]

Core JD Retail Remains the Profit Engine

Hidden under the group‑level loss is a very profitable core.

JD Retail — the segment that includes the company’s main e‑commerce operations — delivered:

Revenue of RMB 250.6 billion, up 11.4% year‑on‑year
Income from operations of RMB 14.8 billion, versus RMB 11.6 billion a year ago
Operating margin of 5.9%, an improvement from 5.2% in Q3 2024 ^[17]

That margin expansion is notable given the intense price competition in China’s online retail market. It suggests that:

JD is extracting more value from advertising and marketplace services.
Its supply‑chain‑heavy model is still delivering efficiency benefits even as volumes rise.

Management highlighted accelerated growth in its general merchandise category and ad revenue as key drivers — both areas that typically carry higher margins than selling big‑ticket electronics alone. ^[18]

In other words, the core business is doing what investors want: growing solidly and becoming more profitable. The problem is that newer bets are currently overshadowing those gains.

Food Delivery: Costly Foray Starts to Show Some Progress

If you followed pre‑earnings coverage, you’ve probably seen the same concern repeated: food‑delivery costs could be the swing factor for JD.com this quarter. A Barron’s preview published ahead of the release framed meal delivery expenses as the “big question” for JD’s results, echoing broader worries that the push into local services could drag margins lower for years. ^[19]

Today’s numbers largely confirm that the food‑delivery push remains expensive — but there are some green shoots:

Reuters reports steady growth in order volume for JD’s food‑delivery unit, which competes with Meituan and Alibaba’s recently rebranded Taobao Shangou. ^[20]
Management said that as food delivery scaled up in Q3, unit economics improved and the level of investment was reduced sequentially, even if the business still weighed on group profitability. ^[21]

Bloomberg meanwhile emphasized that JD’s revenue beat — up about 15% year‑on‑year, slightly above the official 14.9% figure — was helped by this expansion into the food arena, even as it contributed to a 55% drop in net income. ^[22]

So far, food delivery is both a growth driver and a profit drag. The debate for investors is whether it will mature into a high‑margin ecosystem play, or remain a subsidy‑heavy arms race.

User Growth Surges Past 700 Million Shoppers

Despite a tougher macro backdrop, JD.com’s user metrics look impressive.

The company’s annual active customer count topped 700 million in October, marking a significant milestone. ^[23]
Management also flagged higher shopping frequency, suggesting that existing users are transacting more often, not just signing up and going dormant. ^[24]

Several levers helped drive those gains:

Government‑backed trade‑in programs encouraged home‑appliance upgrades on JD’s platform. ^[25]
Long Singles’ Day campaign: While Singles’ Day officially falls on November 11 — outside the Q3 reporting window — JD’s extended sales campaign from October through early November laid groundwork for continued user engagement into Q4. The company has already touted record sales, with orders up nearly 60% and the number of shoppers up 40% compared with last year’s event. ^[26]
Category expansion: Initiatives like the “JD FASHION” label, new JD MALL physical stores, and deeper health‑care partnerships broaden the ecosystem beyond electronics. ^[27]

Taken together, JD is building a wider and stickier consumer base, which could pay off heavily if margins in new businesses normalize.

Share Repurchases Continue as JD Bets on Itself

Alongside earnings, JD.com also updated investors on its ongoing US$5.0 billion share repurchase program (running through August 2027):

As of September 30, 2025, JD had repurchased about 80.9 million Class A ordinary shares (40.4 million ADSs)
Total buyback spending reached roughly US$1.5 billion, leaving about US$3.5 billion remaining under the program ^[28]

That’s equivalent to around 2.8% of JD’s ordinary shares outstanding by the end of 2024, signaling confidence from management that the current share price undervalues the company’s long‑term prospects. ^[29]

For shareholders, buybacks help offset dilution and may cushion the impact of volatile earnings, particularly in investment‑heavy years like 2025.

Market Reaction: JD.com Stock Rises Despite Profit Slump

Investors appear to be focusing more on top‑line momentum and user growth than on the headline profit drop — at least for now.

Nasdaq’s post‑earnings recap showed JD.com shares up about 4.2% in pre‑market trading to around US$32.55. ^[30]
Bloomberg also reported JD stock trading more than 3% higher in early U.S. hours following the release. ^[31]

The relief rally likely reflects the fact that:

Revenue beat expectations, easing fears of a demand slowdown in China. ^[32]
The profit slump was widely telegraphed, with pre‑earnings notes from outlets like Barron’s and GuruFocus already highlighting margin pressure from food delivery and promotions. ^[33]
Management’s comments that food‑delivery investment is being reined in and unit economics are improving may reassure investors that the worst of the drag could be passing. ^[34]

That said, sentiment around JD.com has been mixed. An earnings preview from ATFX noted that a Morgan Stanley analyst recently downgraded the stock to Sell, with a US$28 price target, citing margin pressure and the fading tailwind from China’s trade‑in policies. ^[35]

How Today’s Results Compare With Expectations

Going into the report, the market was bracing for a revenue‑good, profit‑bad type of quarter — and that’s essentially what JD delivered.

Versus analyst consensus:

Revenue:
- Reported: ~RMB 299.1 billion
- Expected: ~RMB 293.9–294.1 billion
- Result: Clear beat ^[36]
Adjusted EPS (per share):
- Reported: ~RMB 1.87
- Expected: ~RMB 2.89
- Result: Meaningful miss ^[37]

From a pure “meet‑or‑miss” perspective, JD outperformed on sales but underperformed on earnings, with the gap primarily driven by:

Higher‑than‑expected marketing and promotional spending
Ongoing losses in food delivery and other new businesses
Reduced profitability from group‑level operations despite solid retail margins ^[38]

What to Watch Next for JD.com

For investors and industry watchers, several themes will shape the JD.com story over the coming quarters:

Food‑Delivery Economics
- Can JD narrow losses in food delivery without losing momentum to Meituan and Taobao Shangou?
- Will subsidies come down fast enough to let group operating profit recover?
Sustainability of Government Support
- Trade‑in and subsidy programs have clearly boosted JD’s numbers. What happens as those policies normalize or roll off? ^[39]
Singles’ Day and Q4 Performance
- With order and shopper growth hitting record levels during this year’s Singles’ Day campaign, Q4 2025 could show even stronger revenue — but possibly also high promotional costs. ^[40]
Margin Path in Core Retail
- JD Retail’s margin expansion to 5.9% is a bright spot. If that trend continues, it may give JD more room to fund new ventures while still delivering acceptable earnings. ^[41]
Capital Returns and Valuation
- With a sizable US$3.5 billion still available under its buyback program, JD has flexibility to keep repurchasing shares if management believes the market undervalues the business. ^[42]

Bottom Line: Growth Story Intact, Profit Story Under Pressure

The headline narrative for November 13, 2025 is clear:

JD.com is still growing faster than the market expected, with strong user momentum and a resilient core retail franchise.
Profitability, however, is under real pressure as the company battles for share in food delivery and other local services, and leans on promotions to keep Chinese consumers spending.

For long‑term investors, JD.com now looks like a classic trade‑off case: accept a period of compressed earnings and higher risk in exchange for potential dominance in multiple high‑growth verticals — or wait for clearer evidence that margins are stabilizing.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Anyone considering JD.com stock should evaluate their own risk tolerance, investment horizon, and consult a qualified adviser if needed.

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