Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) reported its fiscal second-quarter financial results before the markets opened Tuesday. The Chinese giant had $0.57 in earnings per share (EPS) on $3.49 billion in revenue, which compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates that call for $0.54 in EPS on $3.44 billion in revenue.
During this quarter, the company invested in One97 Communications, the parent of Indian online retailer Paytm, and it is taking part in a funding round for Indian e-commerce company Snapdeal.com. Alibaba also invested $4.6 billion in Suning Commerce Group in a bid to bolster its ability to compete in logistics and electronics.
Gross merchandise volume (GMV) increased by 28% to $112 billion in the Chinese marketplace, but this was the slowest growth in more than three years. Mobile GMV accounted for 62% of total GMV transacted in the China retail marketplaces; mobile revenue increased 183%.
In August, the board of directors authorized a two year share repurchase program totaling $4 billion in aggregate. During this quarter, Alibaba repurchased and canceled 40.8 million of its shares for a total price of $2.74 billion.
Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba, commented on earnings:
This was a great quarter for Alibaba Group, with strong growth across the board and particular outperformance in mobile. We continued our efforts to drive healthy GMV growth, deliver an unparalleled consumer experience and help quality merchants do business on our platform. We are winning in mobile and remain focused on our top strategic priorities, including internationalization, expanding our ecosystem from cities to villages, and building a world-class cloud computing business.
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Maggie Wu, chief financial officer of Alibaba, added:
We had very strong results this quarter. GMV grew to US$112 billion, a year-on-year increase of US$25 billion in this quarter. We also made significant progress in monetization and our revenue growth accelerated. Meanwhile, we generated strong free cash flow of US$2.1 billion this quarter. The fundamental strength of our business gives us the confidence to invest in our strategic priorities.
Shares of Alibaba were last seen trading up 2.7% at $78.40 Tuesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $90.94 and a 52-week trading range of $57.20 to $120.00.
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