BYD's third-quarter profit rises 28% as exports reach 42% of sales
BYD's third-quarter 2026 report shows net profit of ¥10.02 billion, up 28.1 percent, on revenue of ¥221.49 billion. Electrek's reading of the filing finds exports of 550,704 vehicles in the quarter, inventories up 60 percent since December, and profit for the first nine months still down 4.2 percent.
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BYD's net profit rose 28.1 percent from a year earlier to ¥10.02 billion in the third quarter of 2026, according to the quarterly report the Chinese carmaker filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 29 October, as summarised by Electrek. Revenue for July to September rose 13.6 percent to ¥221.49 billion. Growth came from abroad: Electrek, using BYD's monthly sales filings, counts 550,704 vehicles exported in the quarter, 42 percent of the 1,323,065 the company sold.
Electrek lists the main lines of the filing. Net profit excluding one-time items was ¥8.63 billion, up 25.3 percent, and earnings per share were ¥1.10. The outlet says it was BYD's best quarterly profit since the end of 2024 and the first year-on-year revenue increase after four quarters of declines.
The result was still short of forecasts. Electrek says brokerages polled by Reuters expected net profit of ¥11.4 billion to ¥12.95 billion. It also notes how weak the start of the year was: first-quarter profit was ¥4.08 billion, down 55 percent, before ¥8.24 billion in the second quarter.
Nine months: flat revenue, lower profit
Over the first nine months of 2026, Electrek says revenue was ¥566.30 billion, up 0.01 percent, and net profit fell 4.2 percent to ¥22.34 billion. So the stronger third quarter has not yet made up for the weak first half.
Exports carry the growth
The quarterly report does not break out vehicle volumes, Electrek says, so its sales figures come from BYD's monthly filings. Total sales rose 18.7 percent from 1,114,192 a year earlier. Exports rose 137 percent from 232,806. By Electrek's arithmetic, everything outside exports, mostly the Chinese market, fell about 12 percent to roughly 772,000 vehicles.
Electrek also points to a cost of selling abroad. It says finance expenses for the nine months were ¥7.37 billion, against a ¥2.94 billion gain a year earlier, and that BYD puts this down to exchange losses.
BYD does not report gross margin in the quarterly filing. Electrek calculates it from the income statement at about 18.0 percent for the third quarter, against 17.6 percent a year earlier and roughly 18.9 percent in the second quarter. That figure is Electrek's estimate, not a number BYD published.
The balance sheet
Electrek gives most of its attention to the balance sheet. Between 31 December 2025 and 30 September 2026, it says:
- inventories rose 60 percent, from ¥138.42 billion to ¥221.58 billion;
- trade receivables rose 53 percent, to ¥56.47 billion;
- bills payable, short-term notes given to suppliers, rose 251 percent, to ¥78.86 billion;
- cash plus trading securities fell 45 percent, to ¥71.72 billion.
According to Electrek, BYD attributes the rise in inventory and receivables mainly to growth in its overseas car business. Cars on ships, at ports, and with foreign dealers stay on the books longer than a car sold to a dealer in China. BYD also booked ¥2.71 billion of asset impairment losses over the nine months, up 68 percent. Electrek says the company describes these as mostly inventory write-downs linked to "the expanded inventory scale."
Research and development spending fell 17 percent to ¥36.28 billion over the nine months, Electrek says, partly because BYD capitalised more development costs this year.
There were stronger lines too. Operating cash flow for the nine months was ¥54.47 billion, up 33 percent, and contract liabilities, which are mostly customer prepayments, rose 81 percent to ¥92.95 billion. Spending on new factories and equipment fell 24 percent to ¥87.38 billion, which Electrek reads as BYD's buildout slowing.
Analysis
The quarter shows BYD swapping a shrinking home market for a fast-growing export business. That brings more revenue, but it also ties up more money: cars spend longer in transit and at foreign dealers before BYD is paid. Electrek's own view is that the headline profit is "not as clean" as it looks, because inventory and receivables are rising faster than sales. That view is Electrek's commentary. Whether the extra stock sells at good prices will show up in later impairment figures. This desk is not commenting on BYD's shares.
This desk has covered BYD's export push before, including the second-generation Seagull and its Camaçari plant in Brazil. Other third-quarter results on this desk include Rivian, Ford's Model e unit, and Tesla.
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