Why Alibaba Shares Are Rising

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR BABA shares are trading higher by 5.23% to $143.06 Friday afternoon. The stock is rising due to strong earnings, bullish analyst outlooks and growing confidence in China’s tech sector. The stock is now up some 67% year to date.

What To Know: Alibaba reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter 2024 results, with revenue rising 8% to $38.38 billion and adjusted earnings per ADS of $2.93 surpassing the $2.66 consensus estimate.

Investors were particularly encouraged by Alibaba's commitment to expanding its cloud and AI investments over the next three years, exceeding its spending in the past decade.

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The broader Chinese market is also rebounding, fueled by government support for private enterprises and increased offshore fundraising. Additionally, President Xi Jinping's meeting with tech leaders, including Alibaba's founder Jack Ma, signaled a potential positive shift in policy.

What Else: Wall Street analysts also responded to earnings favorably, with Benchmark raising its price target on Alibaba from $118 to $190, citing structural restructuring, e-commerce recovery and AI-driven growth.

Alibaba's strategic positioning in China's AI sector and plans for profitability in its international e-commerce unit have strengthened investor confidence. With accelerated AI adoption and capital expenditure plans, analysts see the potential for further upside, making Alibaba a potential standout in the Chinese tech resurgence.

Read Also: Alibaba Says If Artificial Intelligence Is Like Electricity, Then Its Cloud Computing Network Is The Power Grid: The Money Is In Powering AI, Not Selling It

How To Buy BABA Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Alibaba – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy ‘fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, or Amazon.com, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to ‘go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, BABA has a 52-week high of $145.30 and a 52-week low of $68.36.