Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) stock is trading lower Wednesday after it reported quarterly earnings and upsized its share buyback.
The Jack Ma co-founded e-commerce giant reported third-quarter FY23 revenue growth of 5% year-on-year to $36.67 billion, marginally missing the consensus of $36.74 billion. Adjusted earnings per ADS of $2.67 missed the consensus of $2.69.
Segments: Taobao and Tmall Group revenue grew 2% Y/Y to $18.18 billion. Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group revenue increased by 44% Y/Y to $4.02 billion. Local Services Group revenue grew by 13% Y/Y to $2.14 billion.
Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited’s revenue increased 24% Y/Y to $4.01 billion. Cloud Intelligence Group grew by 3% Y/Y to $3.95 billion. Digital Media and Entertainment Group increased by 18% Y/Y to $710 million. All others revenue declined by 7% Y/Y at $6.62 billion.
Taobao and Tmall Group: Revenue from China’s commerce retail business grew by 1% Y/Y to $17.43 billion, led by Taobao and Tmall.
Direct sales and other revenue grew by 2% Y/Y to $4.46 billion.
Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group: Revenue from International commerce retail business grew by 56% Y/Y to $3.28 billion, driven by the solid performance of all major retail platforms.
During the quarter, AliExpress delivered over 60% Y/Y order growth, driven by Choice, Trendyol continued its robust double-digit order growth, and Lazada’s loss per order continued to narrow Y/Y.
Cloud Intelligence Group: It continues to improve revenue quality by reducing the revenue from project-based contracts with low margins. Revenues from public cloud products and services increased during this quarter. In January 2024, Alibaba Cloud unveiled its newest general-purpose ECS instance, g8i, to drive overall performance and AI inferencing capabilities.
Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited: Revenue from cross-border fulfillment solutions drove the growth. Cainiao expanded its premium 5-day delivery service coverage, adding two more countries during the quarter. The order volume for the premium 5-day delivery service achieved robust triple-digit quarter-over-quarter growth.
Digital Media and Entertainment Group: Strong revenue growth of Alibaba Pictures’ offline entertainment businesses drove the change. Damai, a subsidiary of Alibaba Pictures, consolidated its industry-leading position by servicing almost all the major concerts in China, contributing to rapid GMV growth Y/Y. The total box office of movies produced, promoted, and distributed by Alibaba Pictures’ movie segment accounted for more than half of China’s total box office.
Buyback: The board approved an increase of up to $25 billion in its share repurchase program through the end of March 2027.
Price Action:Â BABA shares traded lower by 3.43% at $75.55 premarket on the last check Wednesday.
Alibaba Photo by zhu difeng on Shutterstock
