Alibaba's Stock Soars on Strong Earnings and AI Investment Plans

Why Alibaba Shares Are Rising - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - ADR BABA shares are trading higher by 5.23% to $143.06 Friday afternoon. The stock is rising due to strong earnings, bullish analyst outlooks and growing confidence in China's tech sector. The stock is now up some 67% year to date. What To Know: Alibaba reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter 2024 results, with revenue rising 8% to $38.38 billion and adjusted earnings per ADS of $2.93 surpassing the $2.66 consensus estimate. Investors were particularly encouraged by Alibaba's commitment to expanding its cloud and AI investments over the next three years, exceeding its spending in the past decade. Read Also: Consumer Sentiment Drops 10%, UnitedHealth Under Investigation: What's Driving Markets Friday? The broader Chinese market is also rebounding, fueled by government support for private enterprises and increased offshore fundraising. Additionally, President Xi Jinping's meeting with tech leaders, including Alibaba's founder Jack Ma, signaled a potential positive shift in policy. What Else: Wall Street analysts also responded to earnings favorably, with Benchmark raising its price target on Alibaba from $118 to $190, citing structural restructuring, e-commerce recovery and AI-driven growth. Alibaba's strategic positioning in China's AI sector and plans for profitability in its international e-commerce unit have strengthened investor confidence. With accelerated AI adoption and capital expenditure plans, analysts see the potential for further upside, making Alibaba a potential standout in the Chinese tech resurgence. Read Also: Alibaba Says If Artificial Intelligence Is Like Electricity, Then Its Cloud Computing Network Is The Power Grid: The Money Is In Powering AI, Not Selling It How To Buy BABA Stock By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Alibaba - be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company. Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy 'fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, or Amazon.com, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so. If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to 'go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading - either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline. According to data from Benzinga Pro, BABA has a 52-week high of $145.30 and a 52-week low of $68.36. BABAAlibaba Group Holding Ltd$142.344.68%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Alibaba Stock Climbs 4% In Friday Pre-Market. What's Going On? - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA climbed 4.2% during the pre-market trading session on Friday following strong financial performance for the third quarter. What Happened: The Chinese tech giant posted stellar results for the December quarter surpassing expectations. Alibaba's third-quarter revenue grew 8% YoY to $38.38 billion, surpassing analyst estimates, while adjusted earnings per ADS of $2.93 beat consensus expectations of $2.66. The revenue for Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence Group witnessed a 13% year-on-year growth to $4.37 billion with revenue from AI-related products experiencing triple-digit growth for the sixth straight quarter. The company's CEO Eddie Wu stated, "This quarter's results demonstrated substantial progress in our 'user first, AI-driven' strategies and the re-accelerated growth of our core businesses." Also, during the company's third-quarter earnings call, CFO, Toby Xu, confirmed the 5% net reduction in share count. The Chinese tech behemoth repurchased $1.3 billion of its shares in the December quarter. This follows an approximate $10 billion in buybacks during the first half of fiscal 2024. The company still has $20.7 billion left in its buyback authorization. The buyback strategy was implemented as Alibaba reported $83.6 billion in cash reserves as of Dec. 31. SEE ALSO: Tesla's Refreshed Model Y Rolls Off Shanghai Gigafactory, Deliveries To Start 'Soon' Why It Matters: The stock has seen nearly an 80% surge over the past 12 months, bolstered by China's economic stimulus measures and growing traction in Alibaba's AI offerings. This growth in AI offerings aligns with the company's belief that the real value in artificial intelligence will come from cloud infrastructure rather than the models themselves. Moreover, CEO Eddie Wu revealed expectations that the company's International Commerce Unit would achieve profitability in the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, Alibaba's board-level capital management committee also continues to manage shareholder return initiatives through a mix of dividends, share buybacks, and strategic investments. The stock also surged in Hong Kong market on Friday as economists predict China's central bank could lower its main policy rate in March Alibaba's ADR closed at $135.97 on Thursday, gaining 8.09% for the day. In after-hours trading, the stock rose an additional 0.82%. Year to date, Alibaba shares have surged 60.06%, according to data from Benzinga Pro. READ MORE: Trump Announces 25% Tariff On Auto Imports, Chips And Pharmaceuticals, Shaking Global Trade: Nvidia, Apple, TSMC And Others In Focus 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$141.724.23%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Alibaba's AI Expansion, E-Commerce Growth Reinforce Bullish Analyst Outlook - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Group Holding BABA stock gained after multiple Wall Street firms raised their respective price targets on the stock on Friday. Among them was Benchmark analyst Fawne Jiang, who maintained a Buy rating on Alibaba with a price target of $190, up from $118. Jiang noted that Alibaba is undergoing a long-awaited structural restructuring, driven by a rebound in its core e-commerce business, an improved earnings outlook thanks to better investment efficiency and growth reacceleration, and the recognition of asset value in key strategic areas such as AliCloud and Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group. Also Read: Alibaba Q3 Earnings: Revenue And EPS Beat, Eyes Global E-Commerce Profitability In FY25, Increase Investments In AI Despite strong stock performance year-to-date, Alibaba remains reasonably valued relative to global hyperscalers (~30x forward P/E). With the momentum of accelerated AI adoption in China, the analyst noted Alibaba as a leading player in China's AI sector. Alibaba's third-quarter earnings checked all the boxes and more. This includes a notable reacceleration of growth across its core e-commerce and cloud businesses, a return to profit growth for Taobao and Tmall Group, and a clear pathway to profitability for AIDC and other loss-making assets. More importantly, the drivers behind this core reacceleration appear sustainable, supported by a take rate increase for TTG and expedited adoption of AI Cloud. To capitalize on this, Alibaba announced an aggressive capex plan, with total capex over the next three years set to exceed the past decade's investments. This reflects both the surge in demand and the company's determination to lead in this transformative era. Jiang reiterated that full-stack service providers with strong infrastructure capabilities would be the primary beneficiaries. Alibaba stands out with its competitive edge in infrastructure, proprietary models, and application capacity across diverse use cases. While the stock has risen significantly in the past two months, Jiang noted that a structural rerating is driven by upward earnings revisions and multiple expansions catalyzed by technological innovations. Positive tariffs or macroeconomic developments could further enhance the upside potential. Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 5.6% at $143.68 at the last check on Friday. Next Read: US Listed China Stocks Rally: Alibaba's Performance, President Xi's Support, DeepSeek AI Boost Investor Confidence Image by zhu difeng on Shutterstock. BABAAlibaba Group Holding Ltd$143.515.55%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs