Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) is set to report its fiscal third-quarter earnings results before the markets open on Thursday. The consensus estimates are calling for $2.22 in earnings per share (EPS) and $22.46 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $1.81 on $17.06 billion in revenue.
Alibaba is the top online seller of everything in China and Asia, and the company has largely become China’s most valuable company, with a market cap of some $609 billion or so. It is also now one of the largest companies in the world. While it has been public in the United States on the New York Stock Exchange for about five years, the company entered the Hong Kong Stock Exchange recently as well, in what was the biggest IPO of 2019.
In November, the company announced record Singles Day sales of a stunning $38 billion. More than half a billion people from a number of countries participated in the event, which is China’s equivalent to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, though Singles Day is much larger. The five-day Black Friday clocked less than $25 billion in sales last year, and Cyber Monday saw less than $8 billion. Alibaba said that it had netted its first $1 billion in sales in just 68 seconds and the first $10 billion in half an hour.
Alibaba has gone beyond e-commerce and developed into a sophisticated new type of conglomerate in the cyber-era, with e-commerce as the base for the rest of the four businesses: logistics, finance, data-computing and cross-border infrastructure. Top analysts, including Raymond James, are still seeing more upside in this stock.
Here’s what a few analysts had to say about Alibaba ahead of the report:
- DZ Bank has a Buy rating with a $260 target price.
- KeyCorp rates it as Overweight with a $260 target.
- Daiwa Capital Markets has a Buy rating.
- RBC has a Buy rating and a $240 price target.
- Stifel has a Buy rating with a $220 price target.
- Macquarie has an Outperform rating.
Excluding Wednesday’s move, Alibaba stock had outperformed the broad markets with a gain of about 30% in the past 52 weeks. In just the past quarter alone, the share price was up closer to 16%.
Alibaba stock traded up about 3% to $224.06 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $147.95 to $231.14. The consensus price target is $241.91.
24/7 Wall St.Want to Retire Early? Start Here (Sponsor)
Want retirement to come a few years earlier than you’d planned? Or are you ready to retire now, but want an extra set of eyes on your finances?
Now you can speak with up to 3 financial experts in your area for FREE. By simply clicking here you can begin to match with financial professionals who can help you build your plan to retire early. And the best part? The first conversation with them is free.
Click here to match with up to 3 financial pros who would be excited to help you make financial decisions.
Have questions about retirement or personal finance? Email us at [email protected]!
By emailing your questions to 24/7 Wall St., you agree to have them published anonymously on a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.
By submitting your story, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
