Wall Street is turning bullish on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., after the company has begun surging again, following its md-March lows.
According to the most recent data amassed by Bloomberg, consensus estimates for Alibaba’s earnings per share over the next 12 months have climbed 7% from their previous three-year low in May. More than 10 brokerages have issued or reinforced buy calls over the last week, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
There is speculation by investors that a crackdown on the tech sector is drawing to a close, which has investors seeing Alibaba as poised to begin making gains once again. Alibaba specifically, had experienced issues with Beijing previously, when founder Jack Ma criticized Beijing’s financial policies, and President Xi himself was said to have personally stopped an IPO for an affiliated company. Since then, the affiliate, Ant Group, is being allowed by Beijing to create a financial holding company, something seen as a sign that Alibaba, and perhaps Jack Ma as well, are once again in Beijing’s good graces, and will not face any state-sponsored headwinds going forward. Alibaba’s shares have risen 60% from its record low in mid-March. The Hang Seng Tech Index had only risen 38% in that time.
Goldman analysts, including Ronald Keung, wrote in a note, “We expect Alibaba’s market share loss to gradually stabilize, and remain constructive on the company’s ability to expand its total addressable market.”
Alibaba’s revenue for Q1 exceeded analysts expectations, due in part to cost control measures, and in part to growth in new initiatives. The one factor holding back the stock is continued investor caution in the Chinese economy, due to the propensity for the leadership to shut down vast swaths of it on a moment’s notice to enforce the nation’s strict “zero-covid” policies.