Alibaba rises most in 3 years on outlook for on-demand delivery and cloud business
Company’s shares jump 19 per cent as investors move on from interim results to focus on quick commerce numbers and AI development
Alibaba Group Holding jumped the most in more than three years, with the surge driven by optimism that the e-commerce juggernaut will survive cutthroat competition in on-demand delivery and that its artificial intelligence segment is gaining further traction.
The stock surged 19 per cent to HK$137.10 on Monday, its biggest gain since March 16, 2022. It was also the best performer in the Hang Seng Index, which rose 2.2 per cent.
Alibaba’s American depositary receipts (ADRs) jumped 13 per cent to US$135 in New York on Friday, defying a broad sell-off in US technology stocks.
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“We’ve seen highly efficient execution of the strategies for the on-demand delivery business, and the result is better than expected,” said Xiang Wenqian, an analyst at Orient Securities. “An acceleration of Alibaba’s cloud computing marks the start of a new cycle of AI for the company. We are positive on Alibaba’s earnings recovery.”
Nearly 405 million Alibaba shares changed hands on Monday, more than four times the average daily transacted volume in the past 12 months. The stock’s jump in Hong Kong extended the arbitrage opportunity with their New York counterparts because of the fungibility between the two issues.