Coupang Deep Dive

Peer Comparison: Financial Summary

Metric	CPNG	AMZN	MELI	SE	PDD	BABA	JD
Market Cap ($B)	35.4	2350.3	90.3	56.5	141.0	302.2	36.1
Revenue ($B)	34.5	716.9	28.9	16.8	55.5	140.3	163.2
Rev Growth	14.1%	12.4%	39.1%	28.8%	59.0%	5.9%	6.8%
Gross Margin	29.4%	50.3%	44.5%	44.9%	56.6%	41.2%	11.2%
Operating Margin	1.4%	11.2%	11.1%	8.2%	22.1%	10.9%	1.3%
Net Margin	0.6%	10.8%	6.9%	6.8%	24.4%	12.2%	2.5%
P/E (TTM)	169.5x	30.2x	45.2x	39.9x	9.5x	16.8x	7.5x
EV/EBITDA	53.0x	14.6x	28.7x	27.8x	8.7x	14.1x	9.5x
P/S	1.03x	3.28x	3.12x	2.69x	2.32x	2.1x	0.2x
ROIC	1.7%	10.7%	13.9%	8.4%	19.5%	5.9%	3.7%
FCF Yield	1.5%	0.3%	11.2%	6.9%	11.5%	0.1%	3.4%

On P/S, CPNG is the cheapest name ex-JD. At 1.03x P/S vs. peer median of 2.69x, CPNG trades at a 62% discount. But on P/E (169x) and EV/EBITDA (53x), CPNG is the most expensive, reflecting razor-thin margins. The implicit bet: margins will expand 5-8x from current levels.

Price-to-Sales

Operating Margin

Revenue Growth Comparison

Return on Invested Capital

CPNG's ROIC of 1.7% is the weakest in the peer set. Against a WACC of ~8.8%, Coupang is destroying economic value. Asset-light marketplace models (PDD: 19.5%, MELI: 13.9%) generate far superior returns. JD at 3.7% ROIC after 20 years of the same 1P logistics model is not encouraging.

The JD.com Precedent (The Honest Comp)

JD Revenue$163B (5x Coupang)

JD Operating Margin (20+ years)1.3-3.3%

JD P/S0.20x

JD P/E7.5x

JD.com is Coupang's structural twin: 1P logistics-heavy model, Asian market, no cloud business, thin margins. JD at $163B revenue and 20+ years of operation earns 2.5% net margins. If JD is the template, Coupang's moat produces a modestly profitable but low-return business at maturity, not an Amazon-like compounding machine.

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE: CPNG) • Deep Dive Analysis

Peer Comparison: Financial Summary

Price-to-Sales

Operating Margin

Revenue Growth Comparison

Return on Invested Capital

The JD.com Precedent (The Honest Comp)