Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.Com Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results and appraised the investors on its artificial intelligence developments during its earnings call. However, its shares declined in Hong Kong on Friday as it skirted the questions around the scale of investment and profitability of its newly launched food delivery business.

What Happened: While JD.com’s American depository receipts rose in the U.S. on Thursday, the Hong Kong listed shares fell on Friday after the e-commerce retailer’s management denied shedding much light on the company’s new food delivery business.

CEO, Sandy Xu spoke about various AI applications during the earnings call, “Such as AI marketing, AI customer service, developing superior algorithms for search and recommendations to increase traffic allocation efficiency, and AI-enabled streamlining of internal workflow.”

The company also launched an AI shopping assistant called Singen during the fiscal year that helped users to get personalized search results and recommendations, find the best deals and discounts, and compare products.

“We expect to see better consumption trends driven by the pickup in domestic demand and operating efficiency and user experience improvement powered by AI adoption,” said Xu.

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Why It Matters: During the publication of this article, JD.com shares were down 1.40% in Hong Kong.

When asked about how the company’s new food delivery initiative called JD Takeaway will affect the company’s margin and profitability, the CEO explained that it was still in an early exploration stage, and they were making strategic and disciplined experiments and investments.

“We’ll retain flexibility to adjust our approach as the business evolves, and we’ll provide updates to investor and analysts in a timely manner,” said Xu.

JD.com’s revenue was up 13.4% year-over-year to $47.54 billion, beating estimates. Its adjusted net income per ADS was $1.02 and the board declared a $1.00 per ADS dividend, up from $0.76 a year ago.

Price Action: JD’s U.S. listed ADRs ended up 0.37% on Thursday, it was 28.31% higher on a year-to-date basis and up 83.08% over a year.

While the shares fell 1.40% in Hong Kong, its trading volume stood at 16.014 million shares, higher than the average volume of 13.141 million,

Benzinga tracks 16 analysts with an average price target of $42 for the stock, reflecting a “buy” rating. Estimates range widely from $27 to $55. Recent ratings from Barclays, Bernstein, and Citigroup average at $50.67, suggesting a potential 15.77% upside.

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Photo courtesy: JD.com