Alibaba (BABA)/ 9988 HK; Jack Ma 01 (May 08 - Apr 16)

[winston]

Top 3 Reasons to Buy Alibaba (BABA) Stock Today

With shares trading just higher than its IPO price, Alibaba stock is a buy today because of these three reasons

By Matt Thalman

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2015/08/baba-a ... dfXVNIirIU

[behappyalways]

Alibaba Falls Below IPO Price as Rout Adds to China Concerns
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... a-concerns

[behappyalways]

Alibaba Is the Canary in China's Coal Mine
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2 ... -coal-mine

[winston]

Why the Alibaba Stock Price Is Down 13% This Month

By KYLE ANDERSON

The Bottom Line: The Alibaba stock price is now below its IPO price at $67 per share.

The stock has dropped 13% in the last month as investors panic about China's economy.

High expectations following the IPO have also contributed to the stock's decline.

But BABA stock is still a long-term buy. The Chinese Internet industry is growing at a stunning rate, and Alibaba itself is growing steadily. At $67 per share, Alibaba stock is discounted.

Source: Money Morning

http://moneymorning.com/2015/08/31/why- ... his-month/

[behappyalways]

Alibaba executives to take out personal loans against company stock holdings: Bloomberg
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/04/cutives- ... mberg.html

[winston]

not vested

Alibaba lowers second-quarter gross merchandise volume estimates

ALIBABA GROUPHolding Ltd (BABA.N) said on Tuesday it expected second-quarter gross merchandise volume (GMV) to be lower than its initial estimates due to weaker consumer spending in China.

The company's shares reversed course and slipped as much as 3.1 percent to $61.91 in late afternoon TRADING. They had earlier gained as much as 4.5 percent.

Alibaba said it now expects GMV to be lower in mid-single digits on a percentage basis from its earlier estimates.

The company was "still in early innings in terms of mobile monetization," said Jane Penner, head of investor relations, at Citi's Global Tech Conference on Tuesday.

Gross merchandise volume is the total value of transactions made on Alibaba's platforms and is one of the most closely watched metrics for e-commerce companies.

The company also said its expects growth in its ALIEXPRESS business to slow to low double digits for the quarter ending September due to weakening CURRENCIES in markets such as Russia and Brazil.

The AliExpress business is a global online marketplace for shoppers to buy directly from China. A majority of Alibaba's international commerce retail business revenue is generated by AliExpress.

Worries on margins, slower growth in China and a sell-off in tech ADRs have taken a bite out of Alibaba's shares, which now trade firmly below the IPO price of $68.

Up to Friday's close, the company's shares had fallen about 39 percent this year.

Source: Reuters

[winston]

Alibaba: Analysts Capitulating, Wait For Entry After Lock-Up Expires

By Shuli Ren

Analysts are racing to lower their price targets after Alibaba Group (BABA) said we may see a mid-single-digit impact on the company’s gross merchandise volume, or GMV, in the third-quarter.

Alibaba said the anticipated sales slowdown was a reflection of overall consumer sentiments and there was nothing wrong with its own brand.

UBS lowered its price target to $93 from $101, after “modestly reducing our near-term GMV and revenue estimates to reflect recent commentary provided by the management” and raising Alibaba’s risk premium. Analyst Erica Poon Werkun and team wrote:

New PT is lowered mainly due to:
1) higher WACC (from 9.8% to 10.2%); &
2) lower revenue in near-term flow through over mid-to-long term as our revenue growth assumptions remain unchanged.

We also have Stifel Research cut its target to $88 from $97, saying:

We believe the lower GMV expectations are primarily macro driven, rather than competition, as we have seen other competitors call out similar issues.

At 16x CY2016E adj. EBITDA and 20x CY2016E Non-GAAP EPS, both growing at a three-year CAGR of 22%, Alibaba shares appear attractive for patient investors holding a long-term view.

Also this week, Mizuho cut its price target to $80 from $90:

After Chinese New Year 2016, we expect the base comps to be easier and coupled with potential return on mobile lottery, eventually take rates may become more of a tailwind.

Concerns over China slowdown are of course valid. But the biggest elephant in the room is the massive wave of shares – 1.6 billion shares – that will come to the market on September 20, a year after Alibaba went public.

Internet companies tend to have volatile trading in their first year as publicly-listed firms – look at Facebook (FB), which only outperformed in the second year.

Let the dust settle first. “Once past the lockup, we believe investor sentiment could begin to turn more favorable,” wrote UBS.

Source: Barron's Asia

[winston]

BABA Stock – Here’s Why Alibaba Is Doomed

Alibaba stock isn't transparent, and isn't in favor with investors

By Jeff Reeves

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2015/09/baba-s ... fp8iNIirIU

[winston]

not vested

Chinese Stocks Offering Some Value: Alibaba (BABA)

Decline From 52-Week Peak: 42%

Alibaba (BABA) is the quintessential king of China’s e-commerce industry, and because of the declining Chinese equity market, Alibaba’s stock has also suffered with losses of 35% this year.

During its last quarter, revenue jumped 29% while the total value of merchandise sold on Alibaba stores soared a whopping 34% year-over-year.

With $6.7 billion in free cash flow over the last year, Alibaba is now trading at just 24 times FCF. That’s very cheap for a company that’s growing both revenue and profits well over 20%, and is expected to maintain that growth rate through at least 2016.

Looking ahead, Alibaba has invested billions of dollars in companies all over the world and continues to execute an aggressive expansion plan that involves e-commerce services outside of China.

Furthermore, Alibaba continues to reap the rewards from growth in China’s business-to-consumer, or B2C, side of e-commerce.

Alibaba’s Tmall site controls 60% of this B2C market — a market that’s growing far faster than China’s overall e-commerce market.

Last year, B2C grew nearly 64% versus 49% for the overall market year-over-year. This trend is expected to continue, meaning B2C should outpace China’s e-commerce market, which is expected to grow 40% this year and 30% next year.

This growth coupled with Alibaba’s ongoing investments, expansion and its beaten-down stock price make BABA a stock to own.

Source: Investor Place

[winston]

not vested

Technology Stocks to Sell: Alibaba (BABA)

Another problem for Yahoo? Alibaba (BABA) itself is in deep trouble, seeing 40% declines year-to-date.

And that may only be the beginning.

Barron’s made a lot of noise recently by predicting another 50% drop for Alibaba stock. And absurdly, Alibaba felt the need to immediately respond to the story in a blog post — causing many to think the company is protesting too much.

After all, if Jack Ma and other BABA stock execs are so concerned with building a long-term success story, who cares about a short-term dip in share prices or comparisons to other stocks?

One of the biggest sticking points for Barron’s was the “seeming improbability of the growth numbers reported by the company” lately.

While there is clearly room for interpretation on some numbers, as InvestorPlace analyst James Brumley pointed out, there are serious problems with the overall picture Alibaba paints in regard to gross merchandise volumes and average online spending metrics.

Throw in the fact that Alibaba’s unique corporate governance allows the board of directors to act with almost zero oversight, and you have a recipe for shenanigans on your hands.

Even after recent declines, Alibaba still trades for a steep premium over revenue, at a current price-to-sales ratio of about 12 and forward price-to-sales ratio of about 8.

That’s too rich even for a company that you can trust, and the opacity of BABA makes this stock very unattractive right now.

Source: Investor Place