On November 2, the China Association of Listed Companies released the "Operating Performance Report on the 2026 Third Quarter Reports of Listed Companies in the Domestic Stock Market." The report shows that as of October 31, a total of 5,578 listed companies in China's domestic stock market (the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing stock exchanges, hereinafter referred to as the "whole market") had disclosed their 2026 third quarter reports.
Overall, the operating performance of China's listed companies grew steadily, the vitality of technology growth enterprises was unleashed, the driving role of new industrial momentum became apparent, and the investor return mechanism became more complete.
5.1 Trillion Yuan in Attributable Net Profit Realized
Data shows that in the first three quarters, listed companies achieved total operating revenue of 56.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%; total attributable net profit reached 5.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%. A total of 4,079 listed companies across the whole market were profitable, the proportion of companies with positive revenue growth increased by 3.8 percentage points compared with the full year last year, and more than 30% of companies achieved simultaneous year-on-year growth in both revenue and net profit.
Companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen main boards maintained steady operating cash flow and contributed 60% of the whole market's revenue increment. Private listed companies showed sound development momentum, with revenue and net profit increasing by 13.5% and 22.6% year on year respectively, and their revenue growth rate further improved compared with the first half of the year, among which 208 companies turned losses into profits year on year.
In the first three quarters, listed companies on the ChiNext, STAR Market, and Beijing Stock Exchange together achieved operating revenue of 5.8 trillion yuan and net profit of 542.8 billion yuan, up 27.0% and 79.8% year on year respectively; the net profit increment of ChiNext companies exceeded 55 billion yuan, and that of STAR Market companies exceeded 184 billion yuan, with the two boards accounting for 60% of the whole market's net profit increment, 44 percentage points higher than the same period last year.
The "technology" and "innovation" content of listed companies continued to rise, with the technology sector accounting for more than 30% of market value and companies in strategic emerging industries accounting for more than 40% of market value. In the first three quarters, among 19 major industry categories, 16 achieved profitability, 12 saw year-on-year revenue growth, and 9 saw year-on-year net profit growth.
Total R&D Investment of 1.2 Trillion Yuan
Data shows that China made key progress in tackling core technologies for integrated circuits, and listed companies related to the industry saw revenue increase by 45.9% year on year and net profit increase by 1.9 times. Global downloads of open-source AI large models exceeded 10 billion, demand for electronic components such as memory and printed circuit boards remained high, and listed companies in the two industries saw net profit increase by 55.3 times and 1.1 times year on year respectively.
The pace of national layout for computing power and power grids accelerated, driving a recovery in upstream resource prices in the industrial chain, and listed companies in the energy metals and minor metals industries saw revenue increase by 60.9% and 26.4% year on year respectively. Listed companies in the chemical pharmaceutical industry saw net profit increase by 26.4% year on year. Listed companies in the marine equipment industry saw net profit increase by 1.6 times year on year.
In the first three quarters, total retail sales of social consumer goods and services nationwide increased by 2.6% year on year, and the potential of county-level consumption and inbound consumption continued to be released. Green, intelligent, and health-related products became new trends in commodity consumption, and listed companies in consumer electronics, new energy vehicles, and medical services saw revenue increase by more than 10% year on year and net profit increase by more than 15% year on year.
The report also shows that listed companies continued to increase investment in innovation factors. In the first three quarters, total R&D investment across the whole market reached 1.2 trillion yuan, exceeding one trillion yuan for four consecutive years in the same period, up 6.6% year on year, with the growth rate 2.5 percentage points higher than the previous year. The innovation-leading role of top enterprises became more prominent, with 195 companies investing more than one billion yuan in R&D. R&D intensity across the whole market was 2.2%, while R&D intensity on ChiNext, the STAR Market, and the Beijing Stock Exchange was 2.0, 7.5, and 1.9 percentage points higher than the overall level, respectively. Awareness of innovation in "hard technology" fields increased significantly, with R&D intensity in the computer and machinery equipment industries exceeding 5%.
40 Companies Paid Dividends Multiple Times During the Year
As of October 31, a total of 1,089 listed companies across the whole market had announced cash dividend plans for the first quarter, half-year, and third quarter of 2026, 56 more than the same period last year. Total cash dividends across the whole market reached 801 billion yuan, among which 100 companies paid dividends exceeding one billion yuan and 40 companies paid dividends multiple times during the year.
Professor Tian Lihui of Nankai University's School of Finance told a Securities Daily reporter that in a low-interest-rate environment, the coupon advantage of dividend assets attracts long-term funds such as insurance funds and pension funds to continue allocating, forming a positive cycle; the main body of dividend payers is extending from banks and central state-owned energy enterprises to technology growth leaders, indicating that some growth enterprises have entered a cash flow harvest period.
Excluding cases that were terminated, more than one thousand listed companies released 2026 buyback plans, with cumulative buyback amounts of 112.9 billion yuan. A total of 333 listed companies across the whole market announced 2026 increase-holding plans, among which central and state-owned enterprises accounted for nearly 30%. Since the beginning of the year, medium- and long-term funds such as social security funds, annuities, and insurance have made net purchases of A-shares exceeding 600 billion yuan. Policies continued to guide long-term funds and patient capital into the market, comprehensive investment and financing reform advanced in an orderly manner, and the capital market's momentum moved toward innovation, its structure toward optimization, and its ecosystem toward improvement.
"The institutionalized trend of dividends and buybacks by A-share listed companies has strong sustainability. However, two major risks need to be guarded against: first, 'dividends for the sake of dividends' crowding out R&D and capital expenditure, harming long-term competitiveness; second, if buybacks are used only to support the market rather than for cancellation, the substantive improvement in per-share value is limited," Tian Lihui said.
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