Alibaba's AI Advancements Spark Investor Optimism and Stock Rally

Bernstein upgrades Alibaba thanks to AI, calls for shares to rally more than 20%

Optimism around artificial intelligence could mean big gains in Alibaba shares, according to Bernstein. The firm upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform and hiked its price target by $61 to $165. That new target implies 23.1% upside potential as of Tuesday's close. Shares of the Chinese e-commerce giant have soared more than 50% over the past month since Chinese startup Deepseek low-cost, open-source model rattled U.S. tech stocks in January by raising fears around competition and spending in the artificial intelligence space. On Wednesday, shares rose more than 4% in the premarket after the company announced that it's made its video generation AI models free to use - or open source, like DeepSeek's. BABA 1D mountain BABA, 1-day Analyst Robin Zhu only sees positive sentiment around the technology continuing to translate to growth for Alibaba. That view also comes on the heels of the company's strong fourth-quarter results last week, which sent shares soaring. "While last week felt like a local maximum for AI sentiment, the combination of more gainful capital allocation (AI infrastructure over chasing Temu in global markets), a better industry structure for AI than legacy cloud, and possible spill-over effects of an AI capex boom in China makes us feel Alibaba's earnings could now be on a more upwardly-pointing trajectory," the analyst wrote in a Wednesday note. "Risk-reward skews positive in our view, as the details around Alibaba's AI growth are fleshed out in the next couple quarters, and as the market moves towards FY3/27E-based valuations," Zhu also said. The analyst added that he expects the first two quarters of 2025 to show "meaningful" acceleration in revenue for Alicloud - the company's cloud computing unit. He also said he anticipates investors will buy the dips as more details around AI growth are made known. Zhu's rating joins most analysts on Wall Street with a bullish view on Alibaba. In all, 39 out of 44 analysts have a strong buy or buy rating, while the remaining five have taken a neutral stance, per LSEG. The stock also has a consensus target of $150, which implies 12.1% upside from Tuesday's close.

Analyst Sees 20% Upside For Alibaba On AI Breakthrough And Positive Outlook: BABA Stock Pops Over 4% In Wednesday Pre-Market - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA)

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA climbed 4.3% during the pre-market trading session on Wednesday following the launch of its video-generation AI Model today. The stock also climbed on a positive analyst call. What Happened: Bernstein, a prominent investment management firm, has upgraded Alibaba's stock from 'market perform' to 'Outperform' and raised its price target by $61 to $165, CNBC reported on Wednesday. This new target indicates more than a 20% upside potential from Tuesday's closing price. Analyst Robin Zhu expects a continued positive sentiment around AI will fuel Alibaba's growth. The analyst also anticipates that Alibaba's earnings will trend upward, driven by more efficient capital allocation, a stronger AI industry structure compared to traditional cloud, and potential spillover benefits from China's AI capital expenditure surge. Zhu also predicts a significant increase in revenue growth for Alicloud, Alibaba's cloud computing division, during the first two quarters of 2025. Today, the Chinese tech giant launched its open-source video-and-image-generating artificial intelligence model Wan 2.1 amid steep competition from DeepSeek and other rivals, reported Reuters. Alibaba introduced four variants of Wan 2.1 -- T2V-1.3B, T2V-14B, I2V-14B-720P, and I2V-14B-480P -- designed to generate images and videos from text and image inputs. SEE ALSO: Hugh Grant Saved A Fortune By Inventing A Fictitious Agent. It Helped Him Accrue $150 Million From Acting, Real Estate And Art Why It Matters: Alibaba's AI advancements have been a key focus for the company. On Tuesday, the Chinese e-commerce giant showcased its next reasoning model, QwQ-Max, which could rival industry-leading competitors, including OpenAI's o1 and DeepSeek's R1. The Qwen team announced that QwQ-Max-Preview is free on the Qwen chatbot website. Alibaba's shares have already experienced a 50% increase over the past month, following the impact of Chinese startup Deepseek's low-cost, open-source model on U.S. tech stocks. This optimism also comes in the wake of the company's strong fourth-quarter results last week, which led to a significant rise in share prices. READ MORE: Trump Negotiates A 'Very Big Deal' For Ukraine's Mineral Wealth, But Lacks Long-Term Security Guarantees: Report Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. BABAAlibaba Group Holding Ltd$139.844.35%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Morgan Stanley upgrades Alibaba, says Chinese AI play has room to run as cloud demand takes off

Morgan Stanley is bullish on Alibaba's artificial intelligence-driven growth as the company boosts its spending plans. Analyst Gary Yu upgraded shares of the Chinese e-commerce giant to overweight from equal weight and lifted his price target by $80 to $180, which suggests 25.2% upside. Alibaba's U.S.-traded shares are up 69.5% this year and have jumped roughly 93% over the past 12 months as investors have touted the company as the top play in Chinese artificial intelligence. According to Yu, Alibaba is poised for continued leadership in the rapidly developing AI cloud market as the company's cloud revenue is set to double in three years. Yu pointed out that Alibaba, in its fourth-quarter earnings report , committed to boost its capex investments in the next three years to a level that is set to exceed its cumulative spending over the past decade. "BABA, a the largest hyperscaler with superior technology and highly ranked open-sourced LLM (Qwen), appears poised to capture the AI cloud opportunity after stepping up capex," the analyst said in a note to clients. "We didn't expect the surge in AI-driven cloud demand since DeepSeek emerged in January. We now see acceleration in cloud revenue growth." He added that he expects "a better competitive landscape for GPU (vs. CPU) infrastructure and scaling public cloud to boost EBITDA margin." Yu raised his view on China's internet industry to attractive, saying the country offers "superior exposure" to AI enablers and adopters. Alibaba shares popped last week on its strong earnings report, which reflected a sharp increase in its AI-related product revenue . Traders are watching the company's Qwen AI model, which has become a rival to DeepSeek, and its partnership with Apple to roll out AI features for iPhones sold in Chinese. Yu is also optimistic that Alibaba's core online retail business should see strong growth over the next few quarters driven by its implementation of a software service fee. "Despite weak consumption and intense competition, core TTG business appears to be more resilient than feared, supported by higher take-rates," he said.

Alibaba shares have soared on China AI hopes. Here's where analysts see the stock heading next

Alibaba is back in the spotlight -- with U.S.-traded shares soaring nearly 70% so far in 2025 -- as a favored play on Chinese artificial intelligence. The company said Thursday its AI-related product revenue grew by triple digits for a sixth-straight quarter in the period ended December. Its Qwen AI model has proven itself a capable rival to DeepSeek , along with winning a deal for iPhones sold in China . Founder Jack Ma, once politically sidelined, made his latest public reappearance on Feb. 17 -- with a front-row seat at a rare meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping held with entrepreneurs , including DeepSeek's Liang Wenfeng. Several analysts think Alibaba's gains will continue, with Jefferies setting a $156 price target as of Feb. 20. That's upside of more than 8% from Friday's close of $143.75. UBS equity strategists on Thursday said they have switched out PDD for Alibaba in a model portfolio "given its exposure to AI and quant factors." Remember how just several months ago the Temu parent had a larger market cap , raising concerns that Alibaba was struggling to compete on its core e-commerce business? Taobao and Tmall Group saw sales rise 5% in the latest quarter. As excited as many investors are about AI opportunities in China, crowding into related stocks has only picked up by 0.02 so far this year on UBS's scoring system. That's far below the increase of 0.2 in the crowding score for U.S. AI-related names over the last two years, UBS said. Alibaba had the highest crowding score among large Chinese internet technology names, the report said. "Our Quants team's analysis previously suggested that stocks with reasonable but improving crowding have seen the most near-term outperformance." Hong Kong's Hang Seng index hit a three-year high Friday with China Unicom, Lenovo and Alibaba's locally traded shares leading gains. "Should investors rotate from Alibaba to the AI trade laggers (i.e. Tencent and Baidu)? Not for now," JPMorgan internet analyst Alex Yao wrote in a Feb. 17 note. "We think both Tencent and Baidu's share prices could be driven by AI development in different ways with different risks." U.S.-listed shares of Baidu are up by about 8% for the year so far, despite the company sharing on Feb. 18 that its AI Cloud revenue rose 26% year-on-year to 7.1 billion yuan in the fourth quarter. Hong Kong-traded shares of Tencent , which has yet to report earnings for the period, have risen by about 24% for the year so far. JPMorgan is neutral on Baidu, but overweight on Tencent and Alibaba. The firm has a price target of $125 on Alibaba shares, suggesting a 13% decline from Friday's close. At least four other major investment firms have a buy rating on Alibaba. But Morgan Stanley is notably more cautious with an equal-weight rating and a price target of $100. That would imply a drop of 30% from Friday's close. The firm pointed out that Alibaba's capital expenditures were 11% of revenue in the latest quarter, versus 3% in the prior quarter -- a potential weight on future margins that management warned about. Morgan Stanley also highlighted risks such as weaker consumption and a slower pace of enterprise digitalization. -- CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

Alibaba shares surge on bets it will be AI winner

STORY: Alibaba shares surged in Hong Kong trade Friday. They were up 13% by midafternoon. The jump came after the firm said a day earlier that it would ramp up investment in AI. Speaking to analysts, company boss Eddie Wu said the new tech was the kind of opportunity that only comes around "every few decades". He predicted that AI could one day replace 50% of global GDP. The firm unveiled an updated version of its AI model last month - and says it outperforms DeepSeek. That's the hot new Chinese bot that claims to match or beat Western rivals at a fraction of the cost. Now analysts say that investors increasingly view Alibaba as one of the likely winners of the AI gold rush. Such views have propelled its U.S.-listed shares some 60% higher this year. Sentiment was also lifted by Thursday's earnings numbers from the company. Revenue for the latest quarter hit more than $38 billion, beating estimates. The e-commerce titan benefited from factors including strong demand in overseas markets. It has also cut prices and stepped up promotions to revive demand in its core domestic retail businesses.

Alibaba boosted by China's AI spending boom

Alibaba posted its fastest revenue growth in over a year, as the Chinese ecommerce giant capitalises on the boom in artificial intelligence spending. The Hangzhou-based company on Thursday reported an 8 per cent rise in revenues to Rmb280bn ($38bn) in the final quarter of 2024. It was boosted by sales from its cloud business, which rose 13 per cent to Rmb31.7bn. Alibaba's shares were up 9 per cent pre-trading in the US. "Looking ahead, revenue growth at Cloud Intelligence Group driven by AI will continue to accelerate. We will continue to execute against our strategic priorities in ecommerce and cloud computing," said chief executive Eddie Wu. It comes as Alibaba has seen its share price soar by more than 50 per cent since the start of the year, as it has reaped the benefit of a DeepSeek-led AI rally in Chinese tech groups as well as its tie-up with Apple to roll out AI features for iPhones in China. The group has also been boosted by the comeback of Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma. On Monday, Ma was included in a high-profile meeting of top Chinese entrepreneurs with China's leader Xi Jinping. His invite was seen as a clear signal that China's most famous entrepreneur had been rehabilitated after becoming the most prominent victim of the government crackdown on the tech sector in 2020. Sales from Alibaba's international ecommerce business climbed 32 per cent to Rmb37.8bn ($5.1bn), driven by the growth of its Temu-like AliExpress platform. The group's China commerce business grew 5 per cent to Rmb136bn ($18.6bn) in the fourth quarter, driven by charges to merchants rather than consumer spending on its flagship Taobao and Tmall platforms. Li Chengdong, founder of ecommerce think-tank Haitun, said: "Alibaba's domestic ecommerce business sales have stopped declining. It has succeeded in its initial goal of stabilising the business". Alibaba has been investing heavily in Chinese AI start-ups, including Moonshot and 01.ai, to tap into their AI expertise to gain a technical edge over rivals, such as Baidu and ByteDance. Over the past 18 months, Alibaba has open-sourced various large language models in an attempt to consolidate its cloud position by attracting developers to its platform. But the group faces competition in capturing rising demand from AI, such as Chinese tech champion Huawei. Charlie Dai, principal analyst at Forrester, said that "in the long run, tech leaders with strong research and development resources", including Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and Huawei "will all benefit from the expanding market adoption of AI."

China's Alibaba sees revenue surge on back of artificial intelligence, e-commerce

HONG KONG -- Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding posted its fastest revenue growth in more than a year, beating analyst expectations as it capitalizes on the artificial intelligence boom in China. Alibaba said Thursday that its revenue for the quarter ended December grew 8% to 280.2 billion yuan ($38.38 billion) compared to the same period last year. Net income surged to 48.9 billion yuan ($6.71 billion). Alibaba's New York-traded stock was up over 12% following the earnings results. In an earnings call, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said that Alibaba plans to "aggressively invest" in artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure in the coming three years, with upcoming spending expected to exceed what the firm has already invested over the past decade. "This quarter's results demonstrated substantial progress in our 'user first, AI-driven' strategies and the re-accelerated growth of our core businesses," Wu said. He said that Alibaba's artificial intelligence strategy was to pursue artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is artificial intelligence that can match or surpass human intelligence and can self-teach. He added that such an opportunity for industry transformation is something that comes along "once every several decades" and said that AGI was Alibaba's primary goal. Alibaba's plan to go big on artificial intelligence comes as rivalry in the AI space heats up between U.S. and China. Chinese AI firm DeepSeek recently rattled the U.S. AI industry after its AI model appeared to rival those of leading U.S. companies while being trained on cheaper hardware. The Hangzhou-headquartered firm is one of many technology firms in China who are racing to get ahead in the AI space. In January, it unveiled its latest Qwen AI models that have performed well in benchmark tests, placing Alibaba among the leading companies in China's AI industry. Alibaba is working with Apple to incorporate its AI technology into Chinese iPhones, the firm said earlier this month. Alibaba has already implemented AI technology into its cloud products, with its cloud business unit generating 13% revenue growth compared to the same time last year - the fastest pace in about two years. Its international commerce unit, which includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, saw revenue growth of 32% driven by "strong performance of cross-border businesses." Alibaba was one of several prominent Chinese technology companies which suffered the brunt of a regulatory crackdown on the technology industry in 2020, when authorities scuppered the initial public offering of its financial affiliate Ant Group. The company was later fined a record $2.8 billion for violating anti-monopoly laws. Jack Ma, one of Alibaba's cofounders, disappeared from public view and the company's stock price slumped for several years. But Beijing appears to have shifted gears towards the technology industry as it pursues technology supremacy and self-sufficiency amid deteriorating U.S.-China relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently held a private symposium, meeting with prominent entrepreneurs including Ma. The meeting, coupled with DeepSeek's AI advancements, were among the factors that sparked renewed interest in the Chinese technology industry, sending technology stocks soaring in recent weeks. Alibaba's stock price is up more than 60% this year. Its U.S.-listed shares rose 8.5% in morning trading, to $136.58.

China's Alibaba sees revenue surge on back of artificial intelligence, e-commerce

HONG KONG (AP) -- Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding posted its fastest revenue growth in more than a year, beating analyst expectations as it capitalizes on the artificial intelligence boom in China. Alibaba said Thursday that its revenue for the quarter ended December grew 8% to 280.2 billion yuan ($38.38 billion) compared to the same period last year. Net income surged to 48.9 billion yuan ($6.71 billion). Alibaba's New York-traded stock was up over 12% following the earnings results. In an earnings call, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said that Alibaba plans to "aggressively invest" in artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure in the coming three years, with upcoming spending expected to exceed what the firm has already invested over the past decade. "This quarter's results demonstrated substantial progress in our 'user first, AI-driven' strategies and the re-accelerated growth of our core businesses," Wu said. He said that Alibaba's artificial intelligence strategy was to pursue artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is artificial intelligence that can match or surpass human intelligence and can self-teach. He added that such an opportunity for industry transformation is something that comes along "once every several decades" and said that AGI was Alibaba's primary goal. Alibaba's plan to go big on artificial intelligence comes as rivalry in the AI space heats up between U.S. and China. Chinese AI firm DeepSeek recently rattled the U.S. AI industry after its AI model appeared to rival those of leading U.S. companies while being trained on cheaper hardware. The Hangzhou-headquartered firm is one of many technology firms in China who are racing to get ahead in the AI space. In January, it unveiled its latest Qwen AI models that have performed well in benchmark tests, placing Alibaba among the leading companies in China's AI industry. Alibaba is working with Apple to incorporate its AI technology into Chinese iPhones, the firm said earlier this month. Alibaba has already implemented AI technology into its cloud products, with its cloud business unit generating 13% revenue growth compared to the same time last year - the fastest pace in about two years. Its international commerce unit, which includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, saw revenue growth of 32% driven by "strong performance of cross-border businesses." Alibaba was one of several prominent Chinese technology companies which suffered the brunt of a regulatory crackdown on the technology industry in 2020, when authorities scuppered the initial public offering of its financial affiliate Ant Group. The company was later fined a record $2.8 billion for violating anti-monopoly laws. Jack Ma, one of Alibaba's cofounders, disappeared from public view and the company's stock price slumped for several years. But Beijing appears to have shifted gears towards the technology industry as it pursues technology supremacy and self-sufficiency amid deteriorating U.S.-China relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently held a private symposium, meeting with prominent entrepreneurs including Ma. The meeting, coupled with DeepSeek's AI advancements, were among the factors that sparked renewed interest in the Chinese technology industry, sending technology stocks soaring in recent weeks. Alibaba's stock price is up more than 60% this year. Its U.S.-listed shares rose 8.5% in morning trading, to $136.58.

Alibaba Stock Jumps as Results Surpass Estimates

Shares of Alibaba Group (BABA) listed in the U.S. are jumping more than 10% in premarket trading Thursday after the Chinese tech and e-commerce giant reported quarterly results that beat estimates on the back of growth in its cloud business, which includes its artificial intelligence initiatives. The company said revenue in its December quarter rose 7.6% to 280.15 billion Chinese yuan (around $38.5 billion) year-over-year. Earnings per share per ADS of $2.93 also beat estimates. Both results beat consensus estimates from analysts polled by Visible Alpha. "This quarter's results demonstrated substantial progress in our 'user first, AI-driven' strategies and the reaccelerated growth of our core businesses," CEO Eddie Wu said. He added that cloud revenue growth jumped 13% year-over-year in its fiscal third-quarter, with artificial intelligence (AI)-related product revenue "achieving triple-digit growth for the sixth consecutive quarter. Alibaba shares have soared 70% in the last 12 months through Wednesday, amid reports that it is tying up with Apple (AAPL) to create AI features for iPhones in China. Also boosting its stock are reports that its co-founder Jack Ma is back into Beijing's fold as he attended a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to The Wall Street Journal.

China's Alibaba sees revenue surge on back of artificial intelligence, e-commerce

HONG KONG (AP) -- Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding posted its fastest revenue growth in more than a year, beating analyst expectations as it capitalizes on the artificial intelligence boom in China. Alibaba said Thursday that its revenue for the quarter ended December grew 8% to 280.2 billion yuan ($38.38 billion) compared to the same period last year. Net income surged to 48.9 billion yuan ($6.71 billion). Alibaba's New York-traded stock was up over 12% following the earnings results. In an earnings call, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said that Alibaba plans to "aggressively invest" in artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure in the coming three years, with upcoming spending expected to exceed what the firm has already invested over the past decade. "This quarter's results demonstrated substantial progress in our 'user first, AI-driven' strategies and the re-accelerated growth of our core businesses," Wu said. He said that Alibaba's artificial intelligence strategy was to pursue artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is artificial intelligence that can match or surpass human intelligence and can self-teach. He added that such an opportunity for industry transformation is something that comes along "once every several decades" and said that AGI was Alibaba's primary goal. Alibaba's plan to go big on artificial intelligence comes as rivalry in the AI space heats up between U.S. and China. Chinese AI firm DeepSeek recently rattled the U.S. AI industry after its AI model appeared to rival those of leading U.S. companies while being trained on cheaper hardware. The Hangzhou-headquartered firm is one of many technology firms in China who are racing to get ahead in the AI space. In January, it unveiled its latest Qwen AI models that have performed well in benchmark tests, placing Alibaba among the leading companies in China's AI industry. Alibaba is working with Apple to incorporate its AI technology into Chinese iPhones, the firm said earlier this month. Alibaba has already implemented AI technology into its cloud products, with its cloud business unit generating 13% revenue growth compared to the same time last year - the fastest pace in about two years. Its international commerce unit, which includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, saw revenue growth of 32% driven by "strong performance of cross-border businesses." Alibaba was one of several prominent Chinese technology companies which suffered the brunt of a regulatory crackdown on the technology industry in 2020, when authorities scuppered the initial public offering of its financial affiliate Ant Group. The company was later fined a record $2.8 billion for violating anti-monopoly laws. Jack Ma, one of Alibaba's cofounders, disappeared from public view and the company's stock price slumped for several years. But Beijing appears to have shifted gears towards the technology industry as it pursues technology supremacy and self-sufficiency amid deteriorating U.S.-China relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently held a private symposium, meeting with prominent entrepreneurs including Ma. The meeting, coupled with DeepSeek's AI advancements, were among the factors that sparked renewed interest in the Chinese technology industry, sending technology stocks soaring in recent weeks. Alibaba's stock price is up more than 60% this year. Its U.S.-listed shares rose 8.5% in morning trading, to $136.58.

China's Alibaba sees revenue surge on back of artificial intelligence, e-commerce

HONG KONG (AP) -- Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding posted its fastest revenue growth in more than a year, beating analyst expectations as it capitalises on the artificial intelligence boom in China. Alibaba said Thursday that its revenue for the quarter ended December grew 8 per cent to CNY280.2 billion (USD38.38 billion) compared to the same period last year. Net income surged to CNY48.9 billion (USD6.71 billion). Alibaba's New York-traded stock was up over 12 per cent following the earnings results. In an earnings call, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said that Alibaba plans to "aggressively invest" in artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure in the coming three years, with upcoming spending expected to exceed what the firm has already invested over the past decade. "This quarter's results demonstrated substantial progress in our 'user first, AI-driven' strategies and the re-accelerated growth of our core businesses," Wu said. He said that Alibaba's artificial intelligence strategy was to pursue artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is artificial intelligence that can match or surpass human intelligence and can self-teach. He added that such an opportunity for industry transformation is something that comes along "once every several decades" and said that AGI was Alibaba's primary goal. Alibaba's plan to go big on artificial intelligence comes as rivalry in the AI space heats up between US and China. Chinese AI firm DeepSeek recently rattled the US AI industry after its AI model appeared to rival those of leading US companies while being trained on cheaper hardware. The Hangzhou-headquartered firm is one of many technology firms in China who are racing to get ahead in the AI space. In January, it unveiled its latest Qwen AI models that have performed well in benchmark tests, placing Alibaba among the leading companies in China's AI industry. Alibaba is working with Apple to incorporate its AI technology into Chinese iPhones, the firm said earlier this month. Alibaba has already implemented AI technology into its cloud products, with its cloud business unit generating 13 per cent revenue growth compared to the same time last year - the fastest pace in about two years. Its international commerce unit, which includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, saw revenue growth of 32 per cent driven by "strong performance of cross-border businesses." Alibaba was one of several prominent Chinese technology companies which suffered the brunt of a regulatory crackdown on the technology industry in 2020, when authorities scuppered the initial public offering of its financial affiliate Ant Group. The company was later fined a record USD2.8 billion for violating anti-monopoly laws. Jack Ma, one of Alibaba's cofounders, disappeared from public view and the company's stock price slumped for several years. But Beijing appears to have shifted gears towards the technology industry as it pursues technology supremacy and self-sufficiency amid deteriorating US-China relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently held a private symposium, meeting with prominent entrepreneurs including Ma. The meeting, coupled with DeepSeek's AI advancements, were among the factors that sparked renewed interest in the Chinese technology industry, sending technology stocks soaring in recent weeks. Alibaba's stock price is up more than 60 per cent this year. Its US-listed shares rose 8.5 per cent in morning trading, to USD136.58.

Alibaba Shares Soar 15% from Q4 Earnings Boom to $6.72B

Alibaba Outperform LSEG Estimates, Stock Soars on AI and E-Commerce Boom Alibaba's stock is on a wild ride. Shares in Hong Kong skyrocketed by 10% on Friday, reaching their highest point in over three years. This impressive surge comes hot on the heels of the Chinese e-commerce giant reporting third-quarter revenues that just edged past analysts' expectations. This positive news sent US-listed shares soaring as well. They jumped by a whopping 8% on Thursday, marking their biggest single-day percentage gain since September last year. This surge pushed the shares to close at a three-year high of US$135.97. But that's not all -- Alibaba also announced plans to double down on investments in its core e-commerce business and the ever-promising field of artificial intelligence.

China's Alibaba sees revenue surge on back of AI and e-commerce

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding posted its fastest revenue growth in more than a year, beating analyst expectations as it capitalises on the artificial intelligence boom in China. Alibaba said Thursday that its revenue for the quarter ended December grew some 8% to 280.2 billion yuan (€36.65bn) compared to the same period last year. Net income surged to 48.9 billion yuan (€6.41bn). Alibaba's New York-traded stock was up by more than 12% following the earnings results. In an earnings call, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said that Alibaba plans to "aggressively invest" in artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure in the coming three years, with upcoming spending expected to exceed what the firm has already invested over the past decade. "This quarter's results demonstrated substantial progress in our 'user first, AI-driven' strategies and the re-accelerated growth of our core businesses," Wu said. AGI seen as key to company's future growth He said that Alibaba's artificial intelligence strategy was to pursue artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is artificial intelligence that can match or surpass human intelligence and can self-teach. He added that such an opportunity for industry transformation is something that comes along "once every several decades" and said that AGI was Alibaba's primary goal. Alibaba's plan to go big on artificial intelligence comes as rivalry in the AI space heats up between the U.S. and China. Chinese AI firm DeepSeek recently rattled the U.S. AI industry after its AI model appeared to rival those of leading U.S. companies while being trained on cheaper hardware. The Hangzhou-headquartered firm is one of many technology firms in China who are racing to get ahead in the AI space. In January, it unveiled its latest Qwen AI models that have performed well in benchmark tests, placing Alibaba among the leading companies in China's AI industry. Alibaba is working with Apple to incorporate its AI technology into Chinese iPhones, the firm said earlier this month. Alibaba has already implemented AI technology into its cloud products, with its cloud business unit generating 13% revenue growth compared to the same time last year - the fastest pace in about two years. Its international commerce unit, which includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, saw revenue growth of 32% driven by "strong performance of cross-border businesses." Firm faced crackdown by Chinese authorities in the past Alibaba was one of several prominent Chinese technology companies which suffered the brunt of a regulatory crackdown on the technology industry in 2020, when authorities scuppered the initial public offering of its financial affiliate Ant Group. The company was later fined a record $2.8bn (€2.67bn) for violating anti-monopoly laws. Jack Ma, one of Alibaba's cofounders, disappeared from public view and the company's stock price slumped for several years. But Beijing appears to have shifted gears towards the technology industry as it pursues technology supremacy and self-sufficiency amid deteriorating U.S.-China relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently held a private symposium, meeting with prominent entrepreneurs including Ma. The meeting, coupled with DeepSeek's AI advancements, were among the factors that sparked renewed interest in the Chinese technology industry, sending technology stocks soaring in recent weeks. Alibaba's stock price is up by more than 60% this year. Its U.S.-listed shares rose 8.5% in morning trading, to $136.58 (€130.41).

Chinese giant Alibaba posts profit and revenue beat in December quarter amid strength in cloud unit

Signage at the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. offices in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Alibaba's overhaul could serve as a template for a restructuring of China Tech itself: a shake-up that achieves Beijings aim of carving up the countrys tech titans while unlocking potentially billions of dollars in pent-up shareholder value. Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba on Thursday beat expectations on the top and bottom line in its December quarter, citing ongoing strength in its Cloud Intelligence unit. Alibaba said net income hit 48.945 billion yuan ($6.72 billion) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with an LSEG forecast of 40.6 billion yuan. Revenue came in at 280.154 billion yuan, versus analyst expectations of 279.34 billion yuan. The company's stock has surged by around 50% on both the New York and Hong Kong exchanges in the year to date. "This quarter's results demonstrated substantial progress in our 'user first, AI-driven' strategies and the re-accelerated growth of our core businesses," said Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu in a statement accompanying the results. "Our Cloud revenue growth reignited to double digits at 13%, with AI-related product revenue achieving triple-digit growth for the sixth consecutive quarter. Looking ahead, revenue growth at Cloud Intelligence Group driven by AI will continue to accelerate."

Alibaba's strong year-end sales help to drive revenue rebound

Chinese retailers such as Alibaba have cut prices and intensified promotional offers to revitalise consumer spending and drive sales at their core domestic ecommerce businesses.Alibaba on Thursday reported third-quarter revenues just above analysts' estimates on strong year-end sales, showing that the ecommerce group's strategy to attract cost-conscious consumers has helped to revive its performance. US-listed shares of the company were up about 8% in premarket trading. Chinese retailers such as Alibaba have cut prices and intensified promotional offers to revitalise consumer spending and drive sales at their core domestic ecommerce businesses. Healthy demand from international markets and increased spending by customers towards the year-end helped the company boost sales. The company's revenue was 280.15 billion yuan ($38.58 billion) for the three months ended December 31, compared with 279.34 billion yuan expected by 17 analysts polled by LSEG. China's annual Singles' Day sales event, a nationwide shopping festival in October and November, often viewed as a barometer of consumer sentiment, ran longer than previous editions and led to a 26.6% rise in sales in major ecommerce platforms, according to data provider Syntun. Alibaba said 45 brands - including Apple and Xiaomi - surpassed 1 billion yuan in gross merchandising value, a commonly used measurement for online sales, during the Singles' Day sales period. AI juggernaut Alibaba has kicked off 2025 as a winner in China's AI race, drawing in investors with strategic business wins. Its share price has risen more than 40% since the beginning of the year. "Alibaba has bagged a seat on the AI juggernaut and is now reaping rewards ... it's what is going on under the bonnet in terms of AI which is really moving the dial," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. "Alibaba has carved out a significant niche in the rapidly expanding world of cloud-computing, providing the backbone for AI operations," she added. Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence Unit's revenue grew 13%. Alibaba's domestic ecommerce business Taobao and Tmall Group produced revenue growth of 5% for the quarter. That was outpaced by 32% revenue growth in the company's international ecommerce division, which includes cross-border player AliExpress, wholesale B2B site Alibaba.com and other regional platforms. Alibaba last November announced the integration of its domestic Chinese and international ecommerce platforms into a single business unit, the Alibaba ecommerce Business Group, bringing together the Taobao and Tmall Group and the Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group. The inclusion of Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma in a meeting of private enterprise leaders chaired by China's President Xi Jinping this month, and photos of Ma shaking hands with Xi, has further raised investor confidence in Alibaba. Alibaba said it is teaming up with Apple to power iPhones sold in China with its AI solutions, solidifying its foothold in a market where homegrown rival DeepSeek is making waves with cost-effective models. Alibaba unveiled an upgraded version of its Qwen 2.5 AI model in late January, saying it outperforms DeepSeek-V3.

Alibaba Revenue Beats Estimates as Signs of a Comeback Mount

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. posted its fastest pace of revenue growth in more than a year, reflecting a turnaround in its commerce business and big strides into the critical field of AI. It reported a faster-than-projected 8% rise in sales to 280.2 billion yuan ($38.6 billion) in the December quarter, after cloud services revenue expanded its most on a quarterly basis in about two years. The company's share rose more than 6% in US pre-market trading.