Alibaba (BABA)/ 9988 HK; Jack Ma 03 (May 21 - Jun 25)

[winston]

vested

Alibaba net dives 30pc amid flat growth

Alibaba (9988) saw its adjusted net profit drop 30.4 percent to 30.25 billion yuan (HK$35.16 billion) for its first fiscal quarter ending June while the revenue beat market expectations even though growth was flat for the first time in history.

Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders for the quarter stood at 22.74 billion yuan, down 49.6 percent from a year earlier.

Customer management revenue, which tracks how much money merchants provide Alibaba for placements and promotions, fell a whopping 10 percent to 80.4 billion yuan. The revenue segment is Alibaba's bread and butter, routinely making up roughly one-third of its total revenue.

Cloud computing revenue, its main growth driver outside of e-commerce, grew 10 percent.

Its fintech affiliate Ant Group logged a net profit of 11.38 billion yuan in the quarter to March, down 17.3 percent from a year earlier, according to calculations from Alibaba's earnings report.

This came as SoftBank raised as much as US$22 billion (HK$171.6 billion) in cash through the sale of prepaid forward contracts using Alibaba shares, the Financial Times reported, citing filings it has seen.

SoftBank has this year executed the sale of about a third of its Alibaba stake through these contracts, a type of derivatives that allows the Japanese company to raise cash immediately while retaining the possibility of holding on to the shares, the report said.

Source: AP

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section- ... lat-growth

[winston]

vested

Alibaba Group (9988 HK)
1QFY23: Earnings Above Expectations On Cost Control Over All Business Lines

Alibaba delivered better-than-expected 1QFY23 results.

Revenue came in at Rmb205.6b, flattish yoy (1QFY22: +34%), in line with our and the street’s estimates.

Customer management revenue declined 10% yoy as a result of a mid-single-digit yoy decline in GMV.

Non-GAAP net profit was Rmb30.3b, down 30% yoy and beating street estimates
by 6%, with net margin improving sequentially to 14.7%.

Maintain BUY with a lower target price of HK$129.00 (US$121.00).

Source: UOBKH

https://research.uobkayhian.com/content ... 8ad3bd29c7

[winston]

vested

Brokers│Views

Jefferies│QoQ result beats
CLSA│2H earnings upside driven by rev. rebound, further cost cut
Goldman Sachs│QoQ result beats, cost control driven by bottomed earnings growth
Credit Suisse│QoQ result beats thanks to cost control, profit margin may still rise QoQ on macro uncertainties
DBS│posts high-quality QoQ result growth

Citigroup│QoQ result beats steadily, revival pace affected by macro uncertainties
BofA Securities│cost-benefit steps bring earnings upside room
JPMorgan│QoQ result beats thanks to cost control
HSBC Global Research│earnings recover step by step

Nomura│earnings beat, result recovers step by step
Morgan Stanley│valuation enticing with limited earnings downside room
UBS│EBITDA largely beats thanks to cost control

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

vested

S&P Expects BABA's Total Rev. Growth to Remain at About 8% in FY2023

BABA-SW (09988.HK)'s cash flow position is progressively improving, primarily due to the revival of domestic consumption spending in mainland China and the company's strengthened cost optimization measures, commented S&P Global Ratings.

The revenue of BABA-SW is expected to pick up from September, indicating that the growth of the group's total revenue in FY2023 will likely be maintained at about 8%.

Related News - JPM: BABA-SW (09988.HK) 1FQ Results Beat on Cost Optimization

Looking ahead to the coming two years and potentially beyond that, the expansion of BABA-SW may decelerate and become relatively mild, given that the competition wrought by short-video service providers may intensify, as they venture into the e-commerce segment.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

vested

GTJA: Baba E-commerce Competition, Diversification Trend Irreversible in Short Run, Eyes on Inventory, Potential Tapping, Efficiency Boost

Despite the giant's 1FQ revenue and result beat, Guotai Junan forecast BABA-SW (09988.HK) to track net income attributable to the parent company of RMB98.7 billion for FY23, RMB119.3 billion for FY24, and RMB142.1 billion for FY25, respectively.

The stock was maintained at Overweight with a target price of $140.74.

The broker was eyeing on the firm's inventory, potential tapping and efficiency boost.

BABA-SW shall see some inflection points regarding its steady journey towards lean growth, cost cut and efficiency boost.

One of which would be keener competition against the backdrop of flow diversity, thus making the diversification trend irreversible in the short run.

Related News: Macquarie Hikes BABA-SW (09988.HK) TP to $148, Rating Outperform

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

SoftBank to slash Alibaba stake in race for cash

Vision Fund exits entire $7.7bn Uber holding during market downturn

by WATARU SUZUKI and CISSY ZHOU

It will settle contracts that cover up to 242 million American depositary receipts between mid-August and September, resulting in its stake falling to 14.6% from 23.7% in June.

Source: Nikkei Asia

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/SoftBa ... -cash?s=08

[winston]

not vested

Audit Inspection

US regulators have selected e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding and other US-listed Chinese companies for audit inspections starting next month, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The move follows Friday’s landmark audit deal between Beijing and Washington allowing US regulators to vet accounting firms in mainland China and Hong Kong, potentially ending a long-running dispute that threatened to boot more than 200 Chinese companies from US stock exchanges.

Alibaba has been notified that it is among the first batch of Chinese companies whose audits will be inspected by the US audit watchdog - Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) - in Hong Kong, the sources told Reuters.

PwC, the accounting firm of China’s biggest e-commerce company, has also been informed of the audit work inspection, said the sources, declining to be identified due to confidentiality constraints.

Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment while a PwC spokesperson said it was company policy not to comment on any client matters.

Source: Phillips

[winston]

vested

Alibaba Group (9988 HK)
2QFY23 Results Preview And APSARA Conference Takeaways

The company is seeing a weaker-than-expected recovery in consumer spending due to
disruptions by the ongoing implementation of lockdown measures.

We remain cautiously optimistic on Alibaba given disruptions from periodic lockdowns weighing on 2QFY23 performance.

Alibaba still offers an attractive risk-reward opportunity given the encouraging sentiment on the Single’s Day pre-sales.

Maintain BUY with target price lowered to HK$127.00 (US$120.00).

Source: UOBKH

https://research.uobkayhian.com/content ... 2a0c3cd2bf

[winston]

not vested

Alibaba posts loss, slower revenue amid lower consumption

The company reported net losses of 20.6 billion yuan ($2.87 billion) that it said was due to falling market prices of its equity investments in listed companies.

Revenue grew 3% compared to the same time last year to 207.2 billion yuan ($29 billion).

Will buy an additional $15 billion shares on top of an existing $25 billion share buyback. So far bought back about $18 billion of its U.S.-listed shares.

Douyin and Kuaishou also offer e-commerce services on their platforms.

Source: Market Beat

https://www.marketbeat.com/articles/ali ... 4A8F75D6B5

[winston]

not vested

Alibaba Group (9988 HK)

2QFY23: Earnings Beat; Upsized Share Repurchase Programme; Net Cash Of US$45b
Alibaba delivered better-than-expected 2QFY23 results.

Revenue came in at Rmb207.2b, up 3% yoy compared with flattish yoy growth in 2QFY22, 1% below street estimates.

The group adjusted EBITA grew 29% yoy to Rmb36.2b on cost reduction.

Non-GAAP net profit was Rmb33.8b, up 19% yoy and beating street estimates by 15%, with net margin improving sequentially to 14.5%.

Maintain BUY with a higher target price of HK$133.00 (US$136.00).

Source: UOBKH

https://research.uobkayhian.com/content ... a89ce8ae43