Investing

Alibaba Analysts Come Out Swinging With Big Upside Calls

Wednesday marked the expiration of the enforced quiet period for underwriting firms’ analysts in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA). Some analysts outside of the syndicate group had already started coverage, mostly with Buy and Outperform themed ratings. Now we are seeing the same from the analysts at the firms who were in the underwriting of the largest initial public offering (IPO) in America.

24/7 Wall St. would remind readers that Alibaba’s formal IPO price was raised to $68 for its debut on September 19. The American depositary shares (ADSs) opened at $92.70 on the first day of trading. Shares have a post-IPO range of $82.81 to $100.67.

We have included firm-by-firm analyst coverage, which includes a price target if available. These analysts are grouped by rating rather than alphabetically, in order to see how many firms have positive ratings or cautious ratings:

  • Goldman Sachs started Alibaba as Neutral with a $102 price target.
  • Citigroup started it as Buy with a $118 price target.
  • Deutsche Bank started it as Buy with a $112 price target.
  • Evercore Partners started it as Buy with a $120 price target.
  • Nomura started it as Buy with a $120 price target.
  • Stifel started Alibaba as Buy with a $112 price target.
  • SunTrust Robinson Humphreys started it as Buy with a $120 price target.
  • Topeka Capital Markets started it as Buy with a $117 price target.
  • Pacific Crest started coverage as Outperform with a $125 target.
  • RBC Capital Markets started coverage as Outperform with a $120 target.
  • Raymond James started coverage as Outperform with a $115 target.
  • Wells Fargo started coverage as Outperform with a $117 to $120 price valuation range.
  • J.P. Morgan started coverage with an Overweight rating.
  • Morgan Stanley started it as Overweight with a $111 target.

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Here is how the analysts who were not in the syndicate had initiated coverage of Alibaba in the days and weeks prior to the syndicate firms’ analysts starting coverage:

  • Bank of America Merrill Lynch initiated its coverage of Alibaba with a Buy rating, and it assigned a $112 price objective on October 17.
  • Barclays initiated Alibaba with an Overweight rating and price target of $107.
  • BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage with an Outperform rating with a $110 price target.
  • CRT Capital started coverage back on September 18 with a $95 price target.
  • Jefferies started as Buy with a $118 price target.
  • Macquarie initiated coverage with a Neutral rating back on October 8, with a mere $88 price target.
  • MKM Partners issued a Buy rating back on September 22, with a $125 price target.
  • Susquehanna started coverage as Positive back at the end of September, with a $90 target at the time.
  • UBS started its coverage back on October 14 with a Buy rating and a $100 price target.

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