By Will Feuer


American depositary shares tied to JD.com Inc. rose in premarket trading Tuesday after the company posted higher sales for the first quarter and better-than-expected adjusted earnings.

The Chinese e-commerce company's sales rose 18% to $37.81 billion, topping expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet of $34.7 billion.

JD.com swung to a net loss of $472 million, or 30 cents per American depositary share, but adjusted earnings, stripping out one-time items, were 40 cents per ADS. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of 24 cents a share.

The ADS rose more than 8% to $55.77 in premarket trading.

The company said it has supported the Chinese government's response to the spread of Covid-19 by transporting essential items like medicine and maternal products.

"JD.com's robust supply chain capabilities and technology-driven operating efficiency underpinned our solid performance during the quarter as we continued to deliver healthy growth amidst a challenging external environment," Chief Executive Lei Xu said. "More importantly, we are actively leveraging our core competences to support local communities and enterprises in regions affected by the latest Omicron outbreak."


Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-17-22 0720ET