Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA)
Alibaba on Friday reported a second-quarter profit that was well ahead of projections, although revenue came up short. The e-commerce giant also lowered its fiscal 2019 revenue forecast due to the present “fluid macro-economic conditions.”
Following the results, shares of the company jumped $6.46, or 4.26% to $157.70 at 7:45 a.m. in New York. The stock ended Thursday’s regular session with a gain of $8.97, or 6.30% to 151.25.
BABA Earnings & Outlook
Second-quarter net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was 20.03 billion yuan ($2.92 billion), or $1.11, which is an increase of 13% year over year. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring items, came in at $1.40 per share, ahead of analysts’ expectations of $1.06.
The Chinese-based company posted revenue of 85.15 billion yuan ($12.4 billion), slightly falling short of estimates of $12.5 billion, according to figures compiled by Refinitiv. Revenue from its cloud computing business was $825 million, up 90% from the comparable period last year.
Mobile monthly active users were 32 million, up 5% from 666 million in the prior-year period. For the full year, Alibaba now expects sales of between 375 billion yuan and 385 billion yuan, compared with its earlier forecast of 400 billion yuan.
Alibaba CEO Comments
“Alibaba had another strong quarter of rapid growth. In particular, annual active consumers increased by 25 million to reach 601 million in the 12 months ended September 30, 2018,” commented Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group.
“We generated synergies across our businesses, demonstrating the power of the Alibaba digital economy, which will be further showcased during our upcoming 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. Under our New Retail strategy, we are realizing our vision to enable renewed growth for traditional retailers through digitizing their store-based operations, powered by Alibaba’s technology and consumer insights.”
Company Profile
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. engages in providing online and mobile marketplaces in retail and wholesale trade. It operates through the following segments: Core Commerce; Cloud Computing; Digital Media and Entertainment; and Innovation Initiatives and Others. The Core Commerce segment comprises of platforms operating in retail and wholesale.
The Cloud Computing segment consists of Alibaba Cloud, which offers elastic computing, database, storage and content delivery network, large scale computing, security, management and application, big data analytics, a machine learning platform, and other services provide for enterprises of different sizes across various industries.
The Digital Media and Entertainment segment relates to the Youko Tudou and UC Browser business. The Innovation Initiatives and Others segment includes businesses such as AutoNavi, DingTalk, Tmall Genie, and others. The company was founded by Chung Tsai and Yun Ma on June 28, 1999 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, China. – CNN Money