By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Vipshop Holdings stock (NYSE:VIPS) traded 1.5% lower in Tuesday’s premarket after the online discount retailer cut its guidance for the current quarter.
The company now expects its total net revenue for the fourth quarter to be between RMB34 billion and RMB35.8 billion (around $5.33 billion-$5.62 billion). In the worst-case scenario, this translates into a year-on-year range of flat to 5% down. The company had earlier guided for a 0-5% growth.
The China-focused retailer for brands attributed the revised outlook to its view of market and operational conditions. Times have been challenging for retailers in China as they battle slowing demand while complying with tighter regulatory oversight.
Some signals for the weakness in the business were visible in the company’s third quarter when adjusted profit slipped to RMB1 billion from RMB1.4 billion in the same period a year ago. In the quarter ended September 30, Vipshop’s total net revenue rose 7.5% to nearly RMB25 billion.
Total orders were largely unchanged around 173 million while gross merchandise value rose 5% to just over RMB40 billion. GMV is the most commonly used barometer to determine the size and health of an e-commerce site and signifies the total value of products and services sold on the platform.
Vipshop found itself in the news for all the wrong reasons earlier this year after it was caught up in the investment strategy and then forced liquidation of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management, leading to 60%+ gains in the first 2+ months of the year and then giving away all of those gains in the following month.
The company announced a $500-million buyback in March to capitalize on the fallen share price. Vipshop shares are down almost 69% this year when the S&P 500 is up over 29%.