Alibaba Stock Soars 7.56% After Strong JD.com Results

Alibaba stock ( BABA ) saw a 7.66% gain in afternoon trading on Thursday, thanks to a revenue beat from JD.com. Despite the slight revenue boost, Alibaba's earnings and revenue growth accelerated slightly from the prior quarter, up 13% and 2%, respectively. On an adjusted basis, Alibaba ( BABA ) earned $1.40 a share, down 10% year over year, while revenue edged higher by 1% to $30.7 billion. The company announced a two-part dividend, including an annual cash dividend of $1 per American depository share and a "one-time extraordinary cash dividend" of 66 cents per ADS, totaling $4 billion.

In late March, Alibaba ( BABA ) abandoned plans to list its logistics arm in Hong Kong, but the news did not lift Alibaba stock ( BABA ) out of its downtrend. The cancellation of the listing poses more challenges to a restructuring plan announced last year by Alibaba ( BABA ), which would have split the e-commerce giant into six separate companies.

BABA stock rallied sharply on February 6 after the company reported fiscal Q3 revenue of $36.7 billion, up 2% from the year-ago quarter and slightly above the $36.16 billion consensus. However, adjusted profit fell 4% to $2.67 a a share. Investors also liked the fact that Alibaba ( BABA ) added $25 billion to its share buyback program through March 2027.

Alibaba stock ( BABA ) plunged in mid-November despite reporting an 18% rise in quarterly profit and a 6% increase in revenue. The company surged on Jan. 23 on reports that co-founder Jack Ma and business associate Joe Tsai have been buying shares of BABA stock in recent months. In September, Alibaba ( BABA ) came under selling pressure after outgoing CEO Daniel Zhang unexpectedly stepped down as head of the company's cloud business.

Alibaba stock ( BABA ) surged above its 200-day moving average on July 7, following Chinese regulators fined the company's financial arm, Ant Group, just under $1 billion. In April 2021, Alibaba ( BABA ) was hit with a $2.8 billion fine in an anti-monopoly probe. However, after three years of regulatory scrutiny, optimism is building that Beijing is close to ending its crackdown on tech firms. In March 2023, Alibaba ( BABA ) announced plans to separate into six separate units, each with the ability to raise outside funding and even pursue an IPO. The company is likely to maintain its cloud/artificial intelligence business and giant e-commerce operations.

In April 2020, China regulators fined Alibaba ( BABA ) $2.8 billion after an antimonopoly probe. At the time, it appeared that Alibaba stock ( BABA ) was ready to break out of a downtrend but got turned away at its 50-day moving average. It tried to rally above the 50-day line again in late April but sellers knocked the stock lower again.

According to recent reports, Alibaba ( BABA ) is expected to earn $7.98 a share in fiscal year 2025, down 7% compared to fiscal 2024. For fiscal 2026, earnings are expected to rise 14% to $9.07 a share.