Shares of Kanzhun (BZ 2.50%) climbed 13.2% this week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, after the China-based online recruitment platform released strong quarterly results and a new $200 million share repurchase authorization.

To be sure, shares rose nearly 19% on Tuesday alone after Kanzhun's report hit the wires, but have since given back some of that single-day gain along with the broader market.

How Kanzhun easily beat expectations this quarter

Kanzhun's cutting-edge recruitment platform has proven successful in disrupting traditional recruiting techniques, using AI and big data insights and a mobile-centric interface to directly connect bosses with suitable candidates.

And its effectiveness is reflected in Kanzhun's results; revenue last quarter skyrocketed 46% year over year to 1.58 billion yuan (or $222.6 million U.S. dollars) -- well above estimates of 1.54 billion yuan. On the bottom line, that translated to non-GAAP (adjusted) net income of 628.6 million yuan (USD $88.5 million), or 1.39 yuan (USD $0.20) per American depositary share (ADS) -- again above consensus models on Wall Street calling for 1.18 yuan per share.

Delving deeper into its results, Kanzhun's total paid enterprise customers grew more than 44% year over year to 5.2 million, and its average monthly active users (MAUs) jumped over 33% to 41.2 million.

"In the past year, facing various external challenges, we resumed our strong growth in both user scale and revenues," said Kanzhun founder, chairman, and CEO Jonathan Peng Zhao. "Our better-than-expected financial performance was primarily driven by strong user growth, particularly penetration into blue-collar industries, lower-tier cities, and small and medium-sized enterprises."

Kanzhun also announced a new 12-month, $200 million share repurchase program set to start on March 20, 2024.

Kanzhun expects continued outsized growth

For the first quarter of 2024, Kanzhun sees revenue increasing in the range of 28.3% to 30.7% year over year, or between 1.64 billion yuan and 1.67 billion yuan.

"We have seen encouraging trends of recovered recruitment demand post-Chinese New Year, and we are confident to deliver better-than-expected results for the current quarter," said Kanzhun CFO Phil Yu Zhang during the subsequent earnings conference call.  

This was as strong as any bullish investor could have asked for given the macro headwinds negatively impacting many Chinese companies today. Kanzhun stock is understandably rallying in response.