What to Expect When Alibaba Reports Friday Morning
October 31, 2019 by Chris LangeAlibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) is set to report its fiscal second-quarter earnings results before the markets open on Friday. The consensus estimates are calling for $1.50 in earnings per share (EPS) and $16.47 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $1.40 on $12.40 billion in revenue.
During the fiscal first quarter, annual active consumers in China retail marketplaces reached 674 million, an increase of 20 million year over year. Mobile monthly active users in China retail marketplaces reached 755 million in June 2019, an increase of 34 million.
Management believed that the company would continue to expand its customer base, increase operating efficiency and deliver robust growth. With strong cash flow from its core commerce business, Alibaba said that it will continue to invest in technology and bring digital transformation to millions of businesses globally.
Excluding Thursday’s move, Alibaba had outperformed the broad markets, with the stock up about 29.5% year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the stock was up closer to 33%.
A few analysts weighed in on Alibaba ahead of the report:
- Morgan Stanley has a Buy rating with a $207 target price.
- KeyCorp rates it as Overweight with a $243 price target.
- Nomura has a Buy rating and a $215 target price.
- HSBC has a Buy rating and a $233 price target.
- Stifel has a Buy rating with a $225 price target.
- Vertical Group also has a Buy rating.
Shares of Alibaba traded down about 1% to $176.02 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $129.77 to $195.72. The consensus price target is $222.81.
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