The expansion of PDD’s Temu market has helped the corporate take a number one position within the Chinese language e-commerce enviornment.
Rafael Henrique | Sopa photos | Mild rocket | Getty Photographs
PDD’s value-for-money positioning and the expansion of its Temu market have helped the corporate lead the Chinese language e-commerce enviornment, analysts mentioned, making it the nation’s most dear firm on this section .
PDD firms reported wonderful first-quarter outcomes final Wednesday, sending its shares up as a lot as 7.5% and pushing its market capitalization previous that of its rival Alibaba Group. In keeping with knowledge from LSEG, PDD shares have greater than doubled in worth over the previous 12 months – up 109%.
PDD, which additionally owns Chinese language low cost purchasing app Pinduoduo, has a market capitalization of about $208 billion, in comparison with Alibaba’s $196 billion, in response to LSEG knowledge. JD.com is a distant third with a market cap of $48 billion.
“We imagine Temu’s profitability will enhance sooner than beforehand anticipated because of the introduction of the half-shipment mannequin, the place logistics prices will likely be borne by retailers,” Morningstar mentioned in a word on Thursday.
“We additionally imagine PDD’s home platform will have the ability to defend its place given robust client notion of its value-for-money positioning,” mentioned Morningstar analyst Chelsey Tam, including that PDD is on the prime of their preferences, whereas JD.com and Alibaba rank second and third respectively.
Goldman Sachs on Friday upgraded PDD’s score to “purchase” from “impartial,” citing the corporate’s continued progress momentum in first-quarter promoting income and Temu’s potential.
The improve comes “because of its adtech capabilities, mixed with China’s cost-competitive suppliers/merchants/provide chains, alongside favorable threat rewards, with the present market cap implying no valuation is attributed to Temu,” mentioned Goldman Sachs analyst Ronald Keung within the newspaper. comment.
The market has now greater than priced within the two key points – home competitors and US-China tensions – that led to our earlier PDD score downgrade in March, Keung mentioned.
Stiff competitors
PDD additionally surpassed Alibaba’s market capitalization within the fourth quarter final 12 months, however misplaced the highest spot to Alibaba within the first quarter, LSEG knowledge exhibits.
PDD reported Wednesday that its web revenue attributable to widespread shareholders rose 246% to $3.87 billion (27.99 billion Chinese language yuan) within the March quarter from a 12 months earlier, beating the LSEG estimate of 12.86 billion yuan by an enormous margin.
Income from transaction providers, additionally referred to as Service provider Charges, totaled $6.14 billion, a rise of 327% in comparison with the identical interval a 12 months earlier.
“We proactively responded to the consumption promotion coverage and launched a sequence of promotional actions to fulfill customers’ purchasing wants through the Spring Competition and different seasonal occasions,” PDD mentioned throughout its earnings name.
“We’re assured within the client market in China,” PDD mentioned.
In the meantime, Alibaba’s web earnings attributable to widespread shareholders fell 86% to three.3 billion yuan within the March quarter from a 12 months earlier. Alibaba owns e-commerce platforms corresponding to AliExpress, Alibaba.com, Taobao and Tmall.

PDD’s first main push overseas got here with Temu in September 2022, whose reputation skyrocketed shortly after it aired a Tremendous Bowl advert in 2023 inviting prospects to buy “like a billionaire.”
Discount-hungry Individuals have flocked to Temu it appears prefer it continues to develop quickly within the US. Temu has additionally aggressively expanded into Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and the UK
BofA mentioned in a report earlier this month that Temu, TikTok and AliExpress are “leveraging the expertise” of their father or mother and sister firms, including that Temu believes it’s “comparatively higher positioned” among the many group.
Clarification: The story has been up to date to mirror that PDD reported outcomes final Wednesday.