Critical Contrast: JD.com (JD) vs. The Competition

JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) is one of 142 publicly-traded companies in the “Broadline Retail” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare JD.com to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares JD.com and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JD.com	1.13%	6.78%	2.79%
JD.com Competitors	-2.83%	-30.25%	-2.12%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

16.0% of JD.com shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.5% of shares of all “Broadline Retail” companies are held by institutional investors. 16.6% of JD.com shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.6% of shares of all “Broadline Retail” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares JD.com and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
JD.com	$1,313.44 billion	$2.81 billion	20.22
JD.com Competitors	$54.95 billion	$1.71 billion	15.28

JD.com has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. JD.com is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for JD.com and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JD.com	1	5	8	0	2.50
JD.com Competitors	1408	5411	10897	311	2.56

JD.com presently has a consensus price target of $35.33, suggesting a potential upside of 21.38%. As a group, “Broadline Retail” companies have a potential upside of 21.74%. Given JD.com’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe JD.com has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Dividends

JD.com pays an annual dividend of $0.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. JD.com pays out 68.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Broadline Retail” companies pay a dividend yield of 30.4% and pay out 11.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. JD.com lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

JD.com has a beta of 0.3, meaning that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JD.com’s competitors have a beta of 1.74, meaning that their average share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

JD.com competitors beat JD.com on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About JD.com

JD.com, Inc. operates as a supply chain-based technology and service provider in the People's Republic of China. The company offers computers, communication, and consumer electronics products, as well as home appliances; and general merchandise products comprising food, beverage and fresh produce, baby and maternity products, furniture and household goods, cosmetics and other personal care items, pharmaceutical and healthcare products, industrial products, books, automobile accessories, apparel and footwear, bags, and jewelry. It also provides online marketplace services for third-party merchants; marketing services; and omni-channel solutions to customers and offline retailers, as well as online healthcare services. In addition, the company develops, owns, and manages its logistics facilities and other real estate properties to support third parties; offers asset management services and integrated service platform; leasing of storage facilities and related management services; and engages in online retail business. Further, it provides integrated data, technology, business, and user management industry solutions to support the digitization of enterprises and institutions; and technology-driven supply chain solutions and logistics services. The company was formerly known as 360buy Jingdong Inc. and changed its name to JD.com, Inc. in January 2014. JD.com, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.