Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com all just posted their slowest revenue growth on record

cnbc.com:

BEIJING — Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com have all posted their slowest revenue growth on record as Covid and Beijing's tech crackdown took their toll.

Since the fall of 2020, China has fined corporations and scrutinized them for alleged monopolistic practices. A Covid resurgence since March has added pressure to growth, with travel restrictions and stay-home orders disrupting supply chains and logistics.

Reflecting the economic slowdown, e-commerce giant Alibaba reported on Thursday a drop in online shopping for its two main China platforms in the quarter ended March 31.

The company's total revenue rose by 9% in the latest quarter from a year ago — the slowest on record, according to financial history accessed through Wind Information.

Tencent's revenue for the quarter was little changed, while JD.com saw a roughly 18% increase from a year ago — both the slowest on record, according to Wind data.

Alibaba shares soared by nearly 15% in New York trading overnight after reporting better-than-expected results. JD.com's U.S.-listed shares rose by 5%, while Tencent's climbed more than 1% in Hong Kong trading Friday.

«Macro-sensitive stocks» such as Alibaba and Baidu might temporarily benefit from low earnings expectations, and anticipation that Shanghai is close to ending its lockdown, Jialong Shi and Thomas Shen, analysts at Nomura, said in a note Friday.

«However, we believe the sustainability of this rally will likely be dictated by the pace of recovery for China consumer demand, which the market will likely closely follow over the coming months,» the analysts said.

China's already sluggish retail sales fell further in April, down 11.1% from a year ago.

Even online sales of physical goods fell, down by 1% —