Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA)
Consumer Discretionary - Internet & Catalog Retail | Reports May 5, Before Market Opens
Key Takeaways
- The Estimize consensus on Alibaba is looking for earnings per share of 62 cents on $3.62 billion in revenue, 3 cents higher than Wall Street on the bottom and nearly $40 million on top
- Despite weakness in China, Alibaba continues to see growth in its user base, gross merchandise value and monetization rates.
- Alibaba has transformed from a retail marketplace to an internet holdings company offering services from retail to cloud computing
Between Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Alibaba, Chinese companies are making a name for themselves amongst U.S. investors. After yet another strong quarter from Baidu, expectations are that Alibaba will follow suit. The Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) of China has been on the move since its public debut in late 2014. Last quarter the company reported better than expected earnings, beating the crowd by 5 cents on EPS and $240 million on sales.
This week, the Estimize consensus is looking for earnings per share of 62 cents on $3.62 billion in revenue, 2 cents higher than Wall Street on the bottom-line and nearly $40 million on top. Since its last report, earnings per share estimates have increased 14%, contributing to a projected 31% increase from a year earlier. Revenue has fared just as well and is forecasted to increase 29% compared to the same period last year.
Despite general weakness in China, Alibaba has consistently delivered robust growth in many of its key metrics. Alibaba was early to capture a stake in the Chinese e-commerce space and hasn’t looked back since.
Last quarter featured a 35% increase in retail marketplace revenue and a resounding 192% increase in mobile revenue. Like its American counterpart Amazon, Alibaba continues to expand its clouding computing business which happens to also be its most profitable business. Today, Alibaba’s portfolio consists of several retail companies like Tmall and Taobao, cloud computing services, and communication services, to name a few.
Fortunately, growth opportunities in China remain abundant. Given Alibaba’s market position, they should continue to grow at this clip for the rest of the year.
