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Alibaba (BABA) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: Here's Why

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Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) closed at $132.75 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.29% move from the prior day. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.16% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.01%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.46%.

Shares of the online retailer witnessed a gain of 4.22% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Retail-Wholesale sector with its loss of 5.51% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.59%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Alibaba in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.37, indicating a 2.14% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $33.21 billion, indicating an 8.07% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $8.80 per share and revenue of $138.29 billion. These totals would mark changes of +2.09% and +5.97%, respectively, from last year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Alibaba. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.64% higher within the past month. At present, Alibaba boasts a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

With respect to valuation, Alibaba is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 15.28. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 22.42.

We can additionally observe that BABA currently boasts a PEG ratio of 0.51. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. BABA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.3 as of yesterday's close.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 68, positioning it in the top 28% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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