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PDD Stock Dips 34.7% in a Month on Macro Worries: How Should You Play?

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PDD Holdings (PDD - Free Report) saw its stock taking a significant hit in the past month, plunging 34.7% due to growing macro headwinds. Uncertainties in the global environment, changing consumption patterns, recessionary fears, market volatility and challenging conditions in China's economy have been taking a toll on the PDD stock.

The company’s loss compares unfavorably with the industry’s decline of 9.1% and the S&P 500 index’s rally of 2% in the past month.

PDD Holdings also faces stiff competition in the domestic and international e-commerce markets. Its global business is still in the exploration stage, and therefore, it continues to reel under competitive pressure from behemoths like Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) , JD.com (JD - Free Report) and Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) .

One-Month Price Performance

 

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

 

PDD’s strength in its e-commerce business model, thanks to its robust Pinduoduo platform, is noteworthy.

The company’s strong positioning in the agriculture field is another plus. It seizes the growing business opportunities in agriculture by leveraging its Pinduoduo platform, via which it promotes the digital inclusion of smallholder farmers.

The combination of both risks and rewards prompts investors to question their next move — to buy, hold or sell?

PDD’s Long-Term Growth Prospects Act as Silver Lining

Despite macro concerns, solid momentum in the Pinduoduo platform on the back of a wide range of product offerings, which include agricultural produce, apparel, shoes, mother and childcare products, food and beverage, electronic appliances, furniture, and household goods, is primarily driving PDD’s business growth.

In second-quarter 2024, total revenues were RMB 97.06 billion, which increased 86% year over year.

The company’s continuous efforts to tailor fulfillment solutions in different markets in order to improve supply-chain efficiency and reduce costs are major positives.

PDD’s strengthening Temu platform, which is an innovative online marketplace capitalizing on online ads, social media, coupon codes and games to attract and retain users, is another positive.

On the supply side, the company provides strong support for quality merchants and brands to direct more traffic to high-quality products through the 10 Billion Program and fresh sales. This is a plus.

PDD’s growing agriculture business, on the heels of strong partnerships with local communities, shops, farmers and agri-merchants, is noteworthy. It is also supporting the new generation of farmers and merchants, who are skilled in both agriculture and e-commerce.

PDD Holdings is making concerted efforts to drive innovation across its products and services through advanced technologies. It will spend RMB10 billion in 2024, its second straight year of investment at this scale, with an eye on technology enhancements and its core agricultural operations.

These investments are meant to boost the fundamental strength of PDD’s business by supporting high-quality consumption, broadening high-quality supply and promoting a high-quality ecosystem.

The launch of the Science and Technology Courtyard project in Yunnan Valley and Shanxi, Huiping in order to give a boost to the company’s agricultural strategy, is a major positive. PDD’s continuous investments in agricultural research to promote the commercial application of research funding and accelerate the market adoption of high-quality agricultural products are a plus. 

PDD’s strong e-commerce business, with a growing focus on agriculture produces, reflects solid top-line growth potential over the long run. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 revenues is pegged at $55.98 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 61.6%.

PDD Offers Attractive Valuation

PDD Holdings is currently trading at a discount with a forward 12-month Price/Earnings of 7.12X compared with the industry’s 14.66X and lower than the median of 18.37X. This indicates a solid opportunity for investors.

It also has a Value Score of A and a Growth Score of A, which are hard to ignore.

 

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

 

Macro Worries Hurt PDD Holdings

PDD has been grappling with many new challenges like changing consumer demand. Consumer preferences have also become more diverse. Consumers are increasingly preferring experience-based consumption over material purchases. Then again, there is a growing emphasis on rational consumption as customers are making more thoughtful decisions to balance quality and value.

To address the challenges of diverse demand, PDD Holdings is increasing investments and collaborating with high-quality brands to create customized products. This might hurt the profitability of the company.

Escalating tensions between the United States and China are concerning. Although this geo-political technological war is not directly related to the e-commerce industry, its residual effect does not bode well for PDD and other similar companies.

These factors are making investors apprehensive, which is reflected in the downward revision of the company’s earnings estimates.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 earnings is pegged at $12.06 per share, suggesting year-over-year growth of 83.8%. However, the estimate has been revised downward by 2.1% over the past 30 days.

 

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

 

Conclusion: Hold PDD Stock for Now

Macroeconomic headwinds are concerning, but they do not overshadow PDD’s strong fundamentals and growth potential. With its strong positioning in the agriculture domain, focus on high-growth areas and attractive valuation, PDD remains a stock worth holding on to through this period of volatility.

PDD Holdings currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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