Tech-stock rally on Alibaba results may be short-lived, as pandemic impact on industry, consumer spending come into focus

Two prominent brokerages on Friday cut their earnings forecasts for Alibaba Group Holding this year by as much as 11 per cent

Regulatory matters recede as a concern, as lockdown-driven slowdowns in consumer spending and industrial output come into focus

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E-commerce giant Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on May 26, 2022. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:16pm, 27 May 2022Updated: 4:23pm, 27 May 2022

Alibaba Group Holding’s better-than-expected results may offer only a temporary boost to Chinese technology stocks, as fallout from pandemic lockdowns depresses consumer spending and causes analysts to cut earnings forecasts by as much as 11 per cent.

Alibaba’s shares surged 12 per cent in Hong Kong on Friday after the release of its quarterly report, as the Hang Seng Tech Index rose nearly 4 per cent.

However, major brokerages China International Capital Corp (CICC) and Citic Securities cut earnings projections for the e-commerce giant. They cited the Covid-19 outbreaks that have ravaged about 40 cities in China this year, disrupting supply chains and prompting consumers to tighten their purse strings.

A weak result from Baidu has bolstered the argument. The nation’s biggest search-engine saw its advertising revenue drop 4 per cent from a year earlier in the first quarter, reflecting a tough macroeconomic environment.

The latest brokerage calls reinforce the view that the worst for China’s tech juggernauts is yet to come, as the pandemic takes over from the regulatory crackdown as the factor holding sway over the sector.

A flurry of high-level government meetings over the last month signal an end to the year-long regulatory storm that wiped out more than US$1 trillion in market cap. Top policymakers have made it clear they want tech platforms to play a bigger role in reviving growth, as the outlines of a consumer-spending slowdown and a “big shock” to industrial profits become clear following lockdowns that started in April.