Latest news with #BABA
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wall Street Is Betting on Alibaba Stock. Should You?
After navigating a turbulent few years marked by regulatory crackdowns, economic uncertainty, and internal restructuring, Alibaba Group (BABA) is staging a compelling comeback. The Chinese tech giant has seen its stock rise 52.1% over the past year, a rally driven by the solid performance in its flagship e-commerce business and its rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cloud computing division. Besides focusing on accelerating its revenue growth, Alibaba is taking steps to streamline its operations and doubling down on areas with significant growth prospects, such as e-commerce, cloud computing, and AI infrastructure. By divesting non-core assets, the company is driving efficiency and long-term profitability. This strategic shift is positioning Alibaba to better weather macroeconomic headwinds and capitalize on high-growth opportunities in both the domestic and global markets. More News from Barchart Here's What Happened the Last Time Novo Nordisk Stock Was This Oversold As SoFi Raises 2025 Guidance, Should You Buy, Sell, or Hold SOFI Stock Here? Earnings Will Be 'Worse Than Expected' for UnitedHealth. How Should You Play UNH Stock Here? Our exclusive Barchart Brief newsletter is your FREE midday guide to what's moving stocks, sectors, and investor sentiment - delivered right when you need the info most. Subscribe today! Most of the analysts covering BABA stock are bullish about Alibaba's outlook. Its healthy financials, strong position in high-potential segments, and renewed focus on operational excellence lay the groundwork that could fuel sustained growth down the road. AI-Driven Cloud Business to Accelerate Alibaba's Growth Alibaba's cloud computing division has emerged as a significant growth driver thanks to skyrocketing demand for AI-powered services. In the quarter ended March, Alibaba Cloud posted an 18% year-over-year increase in revenue, primarily driven by public cloud and AI-related offerings. Impressively, AI product revenue has now grown by triple digits for seven straight quarters. For the full fiscal year, Alibaba Cloud saw double-digit growth, and management remains confident that AI will continue to be a primary growth engine for years to come. The surge in BABA's cloud revenues is tied to growing adoption of AI technologies across industries. Alibaba is investing heavily in AI infrastructure, aiming to solidify its position in this fast-growing segment. These investments are already bearing fruit. AI applications are now expanding beyond back-end enterprise systems into customer-facing tools. Moreover, adoption isn't limited to large corporations. Notably, small and mid-sized businesses are increasingly integrating AI into their operations, creating a widening customer base for Alibaba's solutions. Notably, traditional sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture are exploring AI-driven efficiencies with Alibaba's tools, signaling a massive opportunity for long-term penetration. This industry-wide AI adoption reflects the breadth of Alibaba Cloud's growth potential, especially as more businesses look to modernize and optimize with tech-driven solutions. Momentum in Alibaba's E-Commerce Business Remains Strong While cloud and AI steal headlines, Alibaba hasn't taken its foot off the gas in its e-commerce business. Taobao and Tmall, the backbone of Alibaba's digital commerce empire, continue to deliver robust user growth. The number of premium loyalty members (88VIP) has now surpassed 50 million, an indication of increasing consumer engagement. In the latest quarter, revenue from customer management services, an important metric for gauging merchant activity, rose 12% year-over-year, while adjusted EBITA increased 8%. Alibaba is also enhancing the merchant experience, increasing support for sellers with high-quality products and services, which helps boost user satisfaction and long-term loyalty. On the international front, Alibaba's cross-border commerce arm, Alibaba International Digital Commerce (AIDC), saw revenues jump 22% compared to the previous year. With a diversified global footprint and growing operational efficiency, AIDC appears well-prepared to navigate potential challenges from shifting trade regulations. The company remains on track to hit overall profitability in its international e-commerce operations in the current fiscal year. Analysts See Upside in BABA Stock Alibaba will continue to focus on its core businesses of e-commerce, AI, and cloud. Analysts see this focused strategy as a catalyst for sustained growth, especially as global demand for AI and cloud services continues to surge. Wall Street analysts have collectively rated Alibaba a 'Strong Buy,' signaling confidence in the company's trajectory. Their average price target for the stock stands at $157.91, roughly 33% higher than its current trading level. Should You Buy Alibaba Stock? With strong momentum in both its core e-commerce operations and its fast-growing, AI-driven cloud computing division, Alibaba is laying a solid foundation for sustainable growth. The company's focus on operational efficiency, divestment of non-core assets, and targeted investments in future technologies positions it to scale its business profitably. Wall Street's bullish sentiment, its exposure to high-growth sectors, and consistently solid financial performances suggest that Alibaba stock is a buy. On the date of publication, Sneha Nahata did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. 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Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Alibaba's AI Ambitions: 3 Strategic Bets Investors Should Watch Closely
Key Points Qwen is Alibaba Group's AI crown jewel. Alibaba Cloud is evolving into an AI powerhouse. AI is reprogramming Alibaba's core commerce engine. 10 stocks we like better than Alibaba Group › Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) has spent the past few years navigating regulatory crackdowns, macro uncertainty in China, and intensifying competition. However, behind the scenes, a massive transformation is underway as the tech giant repositions itself as an artificial intelligence (AI)-native company. For investors, this pivot could mark a turning point. While the headlines still focus on sluggish consumer sentiment and slow e-commerce growth, its AI strategy may be the most important long-term story. Let's break down the three strategic bets Alibaba is making in AI and why they matter. Building a foundational, open-source AI engine with Qwen Alibaba's most important AI initiative is Qwen -- a family of large language models that rivals the capabilities of OpenAI's GPT-4, Meta Platforms' Llama, and Alphabet's Google Gemini. The tech giant's seriousness in this area is evident in the ongoing releases of new and better versions of Qwen. The latest version, Qwen3, boasts up to 235 billion parameters and has deep multilingual capabilities (119 languages). This latest version compares favorably to the best models from competitors like OpenAI, Deepseek, and Gemini, achieving competitive results in benchmark evaluations of coding, math, and general capabilities. In other words, Alibaba's LLM is as competitive (if not better) than some of the best globally. Unlike closed models from U.S. tech giants, Alibaba is betting big on open AI -- enabling researchers, start-ups, and governments to use and fine-tune Qwen models freely. This approach is not just technically bold but also strategically smart. It enables Alibaba to drive early adoption globally, particularly in Asia and emerging markets where U.S.-based models are less prevalent. As adoption grows, Qwen and Alibaba's tech ecosystem will become the de facto platform that future AI companies rely on. In other words, Qwen could become the engine powering a new ecosystem of Alibaba-backed AI apps and infrastructure. Alibaba Cloud pivots from infrastructure to AI platform For years, Alibaba Cloud was viewed as a regional infrastructure provider, dominant in China but lagging behind global peers in profitability and product sophistication. But that's changing. The company is now rebuilding its cloud around AI, offering a tightly integrated platform that combines compute, application programming interfaces (APIs), developer tools, and its proprietary Qwen models. For instance, with Model Studio, developers can leverage its LLM to build generative AI applications. This vertical integration is essential, as it moves Alibaba Cloud up the value chain -- from basic hosting to full-stack AI enablement. This move unlocks new customers and expands wallet share among existing ones. Strategically, this also leads to deeper customer lock-in due to higher switching costs. Besides, since Qwen is an open-source platform globally, Alibaba has positioned itself well to grow its presence beyond China, particularly in regions where Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are not dominant players. In other words, the shift to AI-native infrastructure could be the key to Alibaba Cloud's long-term growth and expansion. Reinventing commerce with AI At its core, Alibaba remains a commerce company, but even here, AI plays a central role. Across platforms like Taobao and Tmall, the company is embedding generative AI to perform various tasks for merchants and consumers. For merchants, AI can help improve productivity and sales by automating tasks such as product listings, generating marketing content, and providing customer service. For consumers, AI facilitates personalized recommendations and intelligent search. Internally, AI also helps improve productivity and efficiency, especially in areas such as warehousing, fulfillment, and logistics. By fully integrating AI into commerce, Alibaba aims to reinvent itself as it fends off competitors such as Pinduoduo and Douyin. If done correctly, AI can help Alibaba enhance customer delight and increase operational efficiencies, laying the foundation for its next phase of expansion. What does this mean for investors? While the market remains fixated on China risk and e-commerce fatigue, Alibaba is quietly rebuilding its future around AI. From Qwen to cloud to commerce, it's laying the groundwork for a more intelligent, scalable, and global business. The movement toward AI is not a short-term catalyst -- it's a long-term transformation. But if Alibaba executes, investors may look back and see this as the moment it rewrote its growth story. It's a company worth watching. Should you buy stock in Alibaba Group right now? Before you buy stock in Alibaba Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Alibaba Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 28, 2025 Lawrence Nga has positions in Alibaba Group and PDD Holdings. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Alibaba's AI Ambitions: 3 Strategic Bets Investors Should Watch Closely was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Alibaba (BABA) Unveils AI Smart Glasses, Enters Race With Meta and Xiaomi
Alibaba Group (BABA) will launch its first smart glasses by the end of 2025. The product is called the Quark AI Glasses and runs on the company's proprietary Qwen large language model and Quark, its advanced virtual assistant. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. The glasses are designed to deliver real-time voice and visual features. Key functions include hands-free calling, music streaming, language translation, and meeting transcription. A built-in camera enables imaging and search. Users will also be able to access Alibaba Group's services, including navigation via Amap, payments through Alipay, and price comparisons on Taobao. On the stock performance front, BABA shares are 43% year-to-date. Alibaba Group Enters Smart Glasses Market Led by Meta Platforms The Quark AI Glasses are targeted at consumers in China and are part of a broader push by Alibaba Group to expand into hardware. Quark, currently available as a mobile app, will now be embedded in a wearable device for a wider reach. The device is expected to appeal to professionals, travelers, and tech-forward consumers. The launch puts Alibaba Group in direct competition with Meta Platforms (META), which leads the smart glasses category through its partnership with Ray-Ban. It also enters the space alongside Chinese electronics firm Xiaomi Corp (XIACF), which released its own AI glasses earlier in the year. The global smart glasses market was valued at around $1.93 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $2.47 billion by 2025. Research projects a compound annual growth rate of roughly 27% through 2030. North America holds about 35% of global revenue, with the United States market valued at $1.44 billion in 2024. China does not have a specific share listed, but is expected to grow fast due to competition from Alibaba, Xiaomi Corp, and Baidu (BIDU). Meta Platforms currently holds around 60% of the global market share. Industry data shows smart glasses shipments rose 210% year-over-year in 2024. What Is the Price Target for BABA Stock? On the Street, Alibaba boasts a Strong Buy consensus, with an average BABA stock price target of $151.08. This implies a 25.87% upside.
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Alibaba's Jian says most current AI tech will be gone in decade, Bloomberg says
Wang Jian, the founder of Alibaba's (BABA) cloud and AI unit, believes nine-tenths of the technology and services that have appeared since Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI's ChatGPT started a revolution in AI will be gone in under a decade, Annabelle Droulers and Lauren Faith Lau of Bloomberg reports. 'Probably 90% of the AI people are talking about, I would say, will go away in five or 10 years because it's not really the essence of this technology,' Jian said, according to Bloomberg. 'But that's not bad, and it just helps us to explore.' Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
‘Margins Could Get Worse,' Warns Top Analyst about Alibaba Stock (BABA) Ahead of Q1 Earnings
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) is set to report its Q1 FY26 earnings next month. In a new report, Mizuho's Top analyst, Jason Helfstein, lowered his price target on Alibaba stock from $160 to $149, pointing to growing concerns around profit margins. According to him, rising competition in China's local commerce sector, especially in food delivery and instant retail, is beginning to hurt the company's bottom line. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Analyst's Views on Alibaba Stock Helfstein, a four-star analyst, said that this quarter marked the first clear sign of margin pressure for Alibaba, driven by its push to stay competitive in local commerce. Mizuho expects a sharp drop in margins in Q1 compared to the previous quarter. Looking ahead, the analyst warned that this margin strain could continue through the rest of 2025 and into 2026 unless new rules are introduced to ease competitive pressure. In response, Mizuho slashed its June-quarter EBITDA forecast from 55 billion RMB to 45 billion RMB. The firm also lowered its FY27 EBITDA estimate to RMB231 billion, reflecting Alibaba's push to protect market share through heavy subsidies. Earlier this month, the company announced a 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) subsidy program via its Taobao unit. The initiative will support food delivery and online retail services as Alibaba tries to fend off growing competition from (JD), PDD Holdings (PDD), and Meituan. Nevertheless, the analyst remains confident in Alibaba's long-term outlook and maintained an Outperform rating on the stock. He noted that consumer demand stayed strong during the June quarter, helped by promotional events and smartphone trade-in offers. Is Alibaba Stock a Good Buy Right Now? Analysts remain highly bullish about Alibaba's stock trajectory. With 14 Buy ratings and one Hold rating, BABA stock commands a Strong Buy consensus rating on TipRanks. Also, the average Alibaba price target of $151.81 implies about 25.31% upside potential from current levels.
