JOYY Stock Today, November 20, 2025: 6% Rally After Earnings Beat, Dividend Hike and Strong Ad Growth

JOYY stock price today: a standout among social media names

Shares of JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYY), the Singapore‑based owner of Bigo Live, Likee, Hago and imo, are sharply higher on Thursday after the company reported third‑quarter 2025 results, raised its dividend and guided to higher revenue in the coming quarter.

As of roughly mid‑afternoon on November 20, 2025 (3:45 p.m. ET), JOYY stock is trading around $63.7 per share, up about 6–6.5% on the day from a prior close of $59.95. ^[1]

Key intraday stats:

Day’s range: approximately $62.8 – $67.9 ^[2]
52‑week range: roughly $33.8 – $67.9, putting today’s trade near the top of its one‑year band ^[3]
Volume: just over 1.2 million shares, already above typical daily activity and reflecting strong post‑earnings interest ^[4]

The move extends an already powerful run. Data from Simply Wall St and Investing.com show JOYY delivering about 50–51% year‑to‑date and roughly 66–76% total return over the past 12 months, with cumulative three‑year returns above 140%. ^[5]

That performance, combined with fresh earnings, a richer dividend and bullish analyst commentary, has pushed JOYY onto several “stocks to watch” lists today. MarketBeat, for example, names JOYY alongside Strive (ASST) and Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) as one of the “Best Social Media Stocks to Follow Today.” ^[6]

Q3 2025 earnings recap: sequential recovery, mixed year‑over‑year picture

Headline numbers

JOYY’s third‑quarter 2025 results, released via GlobeNewswire and PR Newswire overnight, highlight a business that is growing again quarter‑on‑quarter, even though revenue is still slightly below last year’s level. ^[7]

Key Q3 2025 figures:

Net revenues: about US$540.2 million
- Up 6.4% from US$507.8 million in Q2 2025 (sequential growth)
- Down from roughly US$558.7 million in Q3 2024 (modest year‑over‑year decline) ^[8]
Live‑streaming revenue: about US$388–389 million,
- +3.5% QoQ, marking the second consecutive quarter of sequential growth
- Still below last year’s ~US$439.5 million level, reflecting earlier headwinds in live streaming ^[9]
Advertising revenue (BIGO Ads and related): around US$112–113 million
- +29.2% year‑over‑year
- +17–20% quarter‑over‑quarter, with BIGO Ads itself up 33.1% YoY and 19.7% QoQ ^[10]

Profitability also improved:

GAAP operating income: about US$19.6–20 million, up roughly 19% YoY ^[11]
Non‑GAAP operating income: approx. US$41 million, up 16.6% YoY ^[12]
Non‑GAAP EBITDA: about US$51 million, +16.8% YoY and +4.9% QoQ ^[13]
Net income (continuing ops, attributable to shareholders): around US$62 million, up slightly from ~US$60–61 million a year earlier ^[14]
Non‑GAAP net income: roughly US$72 million, up around 18% YoY ^[15]

On a per‑share basis, Associated Press data (via several local outlets) report GAAP EPS of about US$1.15 and adjusted EPS of roughly US$1.36 for the quarter. ^[16]

A separate earnings note from Investing.com, which uses a slightly different methodology, cites Q3 EPS of US$1.07 versus a consensus estimate of US$1.05 and revenue of US$558.7 million versus US$531.4 million expected, framing the quarter as a modest beat on both top and bottom lines. ^[17]

The exact revenue number depends on the data set and whether gross or net revenues are being referenced, but both the company’s release and third‑party aggregators agree on the core narrative: sequential growth, stronger margins, and performance ahead of analysts’ forecasts.

User metrics and business mix

Management continues to lean into a “dual‑engine” model built on live streaming plus advertising and other non‑livestreaming revenue. The Q3 release highlights: ^[18]

Global average mobile MAUs: about 266 million, up 1.4% QoQ
BIGO Live livestreaming revenue: roughly US$368 million, up 3.5% QoQ
Total non‑livestreaming revenue (largely advertising): about 28% of total company revenue

The company credits growth to:

AI‑driven improvements in content discovery and monetization
Stronger engagement and ARPPU (average revenue per paying user) on Bigo Live
Rapid expansion of the BIGO Ads ad‑tech platform, including more third‑party traffic and better optimization tools for advertisers ^[19]

Q4 2025 outlook: guidance points to further acceleration

Alongside Q3 results, JOYY issued net revenue guidance of US$563–578 million for Q4 2025, covering the quarter ending in December. ^[20]

That range implies:

Sequential growth of roughly 4–7% from Q3’s US$540.2 million
A potential return to year‑over‑year topline growth if JOYY can hit the upper half of the range, given that 2024 revenue was somewhat higher but not dramatically so (Q3 2024 net revenues were about US$558.7 million). ^[21]

Management has also signaled on the earnings call that they expect group‑level revenue to resume year‑over‑year growth as the company moves into 2026, with live streaming returning to a steady positive trajectory and ad tech driving a disproportionate share of incremental growth. ^[22]

For investors tracking fundamentals, the combination of:

Sequential revenue growth
Improving margins
Positive guidance

helps explain why JOYY is outperforming the broader social‑media peer group today.

Capital returns: dividend boost and ongoing buybacks

One of the major storylines attracting income‑oriented investors is JOYY’s aggressive capital‑return strategy.

Quarterly dividend program through 2027

Earlier this year, JOYY’s board authorized a three‑year quarterly dividend program (2025–2027) under which the company plans to distribute about US$600 million in cash dividends over the period. ^[23]

In its latest Q3 release, JOYY confirmed that under this program, the board has declared a fourth‑quarter 2025 dividend of US$0.97 per ADS (US$0.0483 per common share): ^[24]

Payable date: January 13, 2026
Record date / ex‑dividend date: January 2, 2026

That payout is slightly higher than the previous US$0.95 per ADS dividend reported for the September ex‑date, indicating a small but visible dividend increase. ^[25]

Based on StockAnalysis data, JOYY’s annualized dividend is currently about US$3.80 per ADS, which at today’s price near US$63.7 equates to a forward dividend yield just under 6%. ^[26] JOYY’s own investor‑relations page shows a dividend yield in the mid‑single digits (around 4.7%) using earlier pricing, underscoring how sensitive the yield is to the recent rally. ^[27]

Share repurchases and broader capital‑return plan

Dividends are only part of the story.

JOYY also runs a share repurchase program targeted at up to US$300 million over 2025–2027, forming part of a broader ~US$900 million shareholder return plan when combined with dividends. ^[28]
Between January 1 and November 14, 2025, the company has:
- Distributed roughly US$148 million in cash dividends
- Repurchased about US$88–89 million of ADSs, totaling around 1.70 million ADSs, with about US$211 million of repurchase capacity still unused under its authorization. ^[29]

For a company with a market capitalization of only about US$3.3 billion, that scale of capital return—on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars per year—is material. ^[30]

Balance sheet and valuation: net cash almost equals market cap

JOYY’s balance sheet remains a central part of the bull thesis.

As of September 30, 2025, JOYY reported net cash of approximately US$3.32 billion. ^[31] StockAnalysis lists the company’s market cap at about US$3.27 billion based on today’s share price. ^[32]

Putting those two figures together:

Net cash per share works out to roughly the mid‑US$60s per ADS, using the reported net‑cash figure and a share count of about 51.4 million.
That is around or slightly above JOYY’s current share price in the low US$60s. ^[33]

On a simple market‑cap‑minus‑net‑cash basis, JOYY’s enterprise value is slightly negative, suggesting that the market is essentially valuing the operating business at close to zero—before considering other obligations and adjustments. Investors should be mindful that different definitions of net cash and enterprise value can produce somewhat different numbers, but the direction of travel is clear:

JOYY looks very cash‑rich relative to its current market valuation.

Other headline valuation metrics from StockAnalysis include: ^[34]

Trailing P/E: about 1.9x, boosted by large gains related to past asset sales and accounting items
Forward P/E: around 17.6x, based on analyst forecasts
Beta: roughly 0.37, implying historically lower volatility than the broader market
Analyst consensus rating: “Strong Buy” with a 12‑month price target near US$70, about 10% above today’s price

Simply Wall St’s narrative‑driven fair‑value estimate currently pegs JOYY’s intrinsic value around US$62.6 per share versus a recent close of US$59.95, framing the stock as modestly (≈4%) undervalued before today’s rally. ^[35]

Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, raised its target price from US$40 to US$62 in mid‑October, citing:

Signs that JOYY’s live‑streaming business has likely bottomed
Rapid growth in advertising, expected to remain a key driver into 2026–2027
Attractive capital returns, with the bank modeling about US$300 million per year in combined dividends and buybacks from 2025 to 2027. ^[36]

Competitive positioning: live streaming plus ad‑tech

JOYY is best known for its video‑driven social platforms:

Bigo Live – real‑time social live‑streaming
Likee – short‑form video
Hago – game‑centric social platform
imo – messaging and calling app ^[37]

In its Q3 update, the company emphasized: ^[38]

AI‑powered features such as real‑time translation subtitles in 15 languages and AI‑generated virtual gifts
Strong growth in BIGO Ads, which JOYY is positioning as a global performance‑driven multi‑channel ad network
A growing advertiser base and rising ad requests, especially in developed markets like North America and Western Europe

External analysis from MarketBeat and others groups JOYY with other high‑engagement social‑media plays, but notes that this space tends to be: ^[39]

Highly sensitive to advertising cycles, privacy concerns and regulatory shifts
Volatile, with sentiment changing quickly based on user‑growth trends and policy headlines

That context helps explain why JOYY’s renewed growth in both live streaming and advertising is drawing attention today: the company is showing it can still grow while returning substantial cash to shareholders.

Risks and what could go wrong

Despite today’s strong price action, JOYY is not a low‑risk story. Investors following the name closely tend to focus on several key risk areas:

Revenue still down year‑over‑year
- Q3 2025 net revenue of about US$540.2 million is below the US$558.7 million recorded in Q3 2024.
- Live‑streaming revenue also remains lower than a year ago, even after two consecutive quarters of sequential improvement. ^[40]
Dependence on live streaming and emerging‑market monetization
- Live streaming is still the bulk of JOYY’s revenue. Any slowdown in user engagement, competition from rival platforms, or changes in consumer behavior could pressure growth. ^[41]
Regulatory and geopolitical uncertainty
- As a global social‑media and communication platform with a large footprint in Asia and other emerging markets, JOYY faces regulatory, data‑privacy and content‑moderation risks that are inherently hard to model and can change quickly.
Advertising cyclicality
- BIGO Ads’ 30%+ year‑over‑year growth is a clear positive, but ad spending tends to be cyclical. A slowdown in global ad budgets or weaker performance for app developers and advertisers could slow this momentum. ^[42]
Mixed institutional flows
- QuiverQuant’s summary of recent 13F filings points to several large hedge funds reducing positions in JOYY in recent quarters, even as others added shares, suggesting divergent institutional views on the stock. ^[43]
Valuation complexity
- The extremely low trailing P/E ratio reflects factors such as large past gains and non‑recurring items, not just core operating profitability. Forward multiples and cash flows may give a more realistic picture of normalized earnings power. ^[44]

What to watch next for JOYY stock

For traders and longer‑term investors monitoring JOYY after today’s move, some key catalysts and data points over the coming months include:

Execution vs. Q4 guidance
- Can JOYY deliver net revenue within the US$563–578 million range it has guided for Q4 2025? That will help validate management’s narrative of renewed growth heading into 2026. ^[45]
Trajectory of live‑streaming revenue
- Markets will be watching whether the 3.5% sequential growth in Q3 accelerates, stays steady, or stalls, given how central live streaming remains to JOYY’s model. ^[46]
Sustainability of BIGO Ads growth
- With ad revenue up nearly 30% year‑over‑year in Q3, investors will look for evidence that BIGO Ads can maintain strong double‑digit growth despite macro and ad‑cycle noise. ^[47]
Capital returns and balance‑sheet strength
- Progress on executing the US$600 million dividend program and US$300 million buyback authorization, while retaining a large net‑cash position, will remain a core part of the equity story. ^[48]
Analyst and rating updates
- After Morgan Stanley’s October target hike to US$62 and the current consensus target near US$70, any revisions following Q3 results could influence sentiment. ^[49]

Bottom line

JOYY stock is rallying today because the company delivered exactly what many investors wanted to see:

Sequential revenue growth and margin expansion
A clearer path to renewed year‑over‑year growth
A bigger quarterly dividend and continued buybacks
A balance sheet whose net cash is roughly equal to, or even slightly above, the current market cap

At the same time, the story is not without meaningful risks: revenue is still down versus last year, live‑streaming growth is only gradually recovering, and the business operates in a highly competitive, regulation‑heavy segment of the global internet.

For now, though, JOYY has firmly positioned itself as one of the social‑media stocks to watch on November 20, 2025, with the market rewarding its combination of cash returns, improving fundamentals and a still‑debated valuation.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own research and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before making investment decisions.