Alibaba (BABA) Stock Falls Despite Market Gains: Key Facts to Note

Alibaba (BABA) closed the most recent trading day at $106.12, marking a change of -1.13% from the end of the previous session. The change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.42%. At the same time, the Dow gained 0.04% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.38%.

The online retailer's shares have risen 28.79% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 6.34% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.06%.

Alibaba's upcoming earnings release will be of great interest to investors. On that day, Alibaba is expected to report earnings of $2.24 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 4.67%. Additionally, our most recent consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $33.01 billion, up 7.13% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full-year period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.68 per share and revenue of $139.56 billion, moving +0.7% and +6.94%, respectively, from the previous quarter year corresponds.

Investors should also note recent analyst estimate revisions for Alibaba. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of near-term business trends. As a result, optimistic estimate changes suggest analysts have a positive outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term share price performance. To take advantage of this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate revisions and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% generated. Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained unchanged. Alibaba currently sports a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Alibaba currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.36. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.6.

It should also be noted that BABA currently has a PEG ratio of 0.5. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Internet Commerce industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.07 as of yesterday's close.

The internet commerce industry is part of the retail-wholesale sector. This industry, which currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 57, is in the top 23% of all 250+ industries.

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The Zacks Industry Rank is ranked from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies in each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top rated 50% of industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to rely on Zacks.com to monitor all of these stock-influencing metrics and more in subsequent trading sessions.

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Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA): Free stock analysis report

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