BYD Q3 2026 Earnings: Profit Up 28%, Inventory Up RMB 83 Billion This Year

BYD's third quarter of 2026 brought its profit back to growth. Operating revenue rose 13.6% from a year earlier to RMB 221.5 billion and net profit attributable to shareholders 28% to RMB 10.0 billion, after a first half in which profit fell. The balance sheet tells a second story. Inventories were RMB 221.6 billion on September 30, up 60% from RMB 138.4 billion at the end of 2025, while revenue for the nine months was flat. BYD paid for much of that stock with bills payable, which more than tripled to RMB 78.9 billion, and its cash fell by RMB 44.4 billion as it repaid debt.

Revenue and profit recovered in the quarter​

BYD's third quarterly report shows nine-month operating revenue of RMB 566,304 million, up 0.01%, and attributable net profit of RMB 22,345 million, down 4.2%. The quarter alone did much better: revenue up 13.59% and attributable profit up 28.08%. The report presents only the nine-month income statement, so the ledger derives the quarter line by line as nine months less the first half.

The quarter's figures are nine months less the first half for both years, by our computation; the 2025 first half comes from the comparative columns of BYD's 2026 interim report.

; FY2026Q3 Income Statement — three months ended 30 September 2026 (derived: 9M − H1)
; Check: (-221,488) + 181,602 + 12,970 + 12,686 + 2,143 + 1,877 + 10,210 = 0 ✓
 
2026-09-30 * "BYD Company Limited" "FY2026Q3 Income Statement"
  Income:Revenue                          -221488 MRMB  ; operating revenue (filed Q3 figure)
  Expenses:CostOfRevenue                   181602 MRMB  ; operating costs
  Expenses:ResearchAndDevelopment           12970 MRMB
  Expenses:SellingGeneralAdministrative     12686 MRMB  ; selling + administrative expenses
  Expenses:OtherNet                          2143 MRMB  ; tax and surcharge, finance expenses, other items
  Expenses:IncomeTax                         1877 MRMB
  Equity:Adjustments                        10210 MRMB  ; net profit incl. NCI

The treemap shows a carmaker's cost structure: operating costs of RMB 181.6 billion, then research and development of RMB 13.0 billion and selling and administrative expenses of RMB 12.7 billion. Gross margin was 18.0% in the quarter, by our computation, against 18.8% in the first half and 17.7% for 2025. Below gross profit, finance expenses for the nine months were RMB 7.4 billion, against income of RMB 2.9 billion a year earlier, "mainly due to exchange losses," the currency effect of a business that now earns more than half its revenue abroad, as our H1 analysis discussed.

Expensed research and development for the nine months fell to RMB 36.3 billion from RMB 43.7 billion. Capitalized development expenditure, which sits on the balance sheet instead, rose to RMB 7.4 billion from RMB 6.0 billion at the end of 2025.

Inventory grew faster than anything else​

The report explains the 60% inventory rise as "the growth in the overseas automobile business and the increase in inventory." Cars shipped to distant markets spend weeks at sea and in dealer stock, so an exporter carries more inventory for each car it sells than a domestic seller. Trade receivables rose 53% to RMB 56.5 billion for the same reason. The asset impairment charge, which the report links to inventory write-downs "as a result of the expanded inventory scale," rose to RMB 2.7 billion for the nine months from RMB 1.6 billion.

The ledger keeps inventories inside Assets:Current:Other, with the inventory figure in each balance's comment; inventories are most of the line, three quarters of it on September 30. They were RMB 43.4 billion at the end of 2021, RMB 87.7 billion at the end of 2023, RMB 116.0 billion at the end of 2024, RMB 138.4 billion at the end of 2025, RMB 190.0 billion in June and RMB 221.6 billion on September 30. Revenue grew from RMB 216.1 billion in 2021 to RMB 804.0 billion in 2025, 3.7 times; inventories grew 3.2 times over those four years and another 60% in nine months.

Suppliers and customers are funding it​

Two liabilities grew with the stock. Bills payable, short-term notes BYD issues to suppliers instead of paying cash, rose to RMB 78.9 billion from RMB 22.5 billion at the end of 2025; the ledger records them with trade payables in Liabilities:Current:AccountsPayable, which reached RMB 251.6 billion. Contract liabilities, payments received from customers before delivery, rose 81% to RMB 92.9 billion, which the report attributes to "receipts in advance for the automobile business."

That funding shows up in cash flow. Operating cash flow for the nine months was RMB 54.5 billion, up 33%, "mainly due to the decrease in cash paid for the purchase of goods." Cash still fell, to RMB 31.0 billion from RMB 75.4 billion, because BYD repaid RMB 109.9 billion of debt against RMB 36.7 billion a year earlier; short-term borrowings halved to RMB 18.7 billion. For any business the lesson is the same at small scale: paying suppliers later lifts operating cash flow without changing what the business earns, and the bill comes due.

What to watch for the rest of 2026​

• Inventory against sales. If inventory falls back in the fourth quarter while revenue grows, the build was for overseas deliveries already in transit.
• Bills payable. Their maturities move cash out of the business in coming quarters regardless of sales.
• Exchange rates. Finance expenses depend on the renminbi against the currencies of BYD's export markets.
• Inventory impairments. A rising write-down rate would mean some of the stock is selling below cost.