Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group skyrocketed as much as 8.38% to $86.70 in pre-market trading Thursday after the company released its fiscal fourth quarter results. Alibaba’s Q4 revenue was well above the consensus estimates. For the March quarter, the online retailer reported a 45% increase in revenue to $2.81 billion, compared to the analysts’ estimate of $2.78 billion.
Alibaba revenue, EPS crush estimates
Its revenue from China commerce went up 39% YoY to $2.1 billion, largely driven by online marketing services and commission revenue. Mobile revenue increased a staggering 352% YoY to $846 million. Alibaba ended the quarter with 289 million mobile monthly active users (MAUs), up from 265 million in the preceding quarter. The number of mobile MAUs increased 77% from 163 million in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Gross merchandise volume (GMV) increased 40% YoY to $97 billion. Of that, Taobao alone accounted for $61 billion. Tmall GMV jumped 62% to $35 billion. Alibaba said its mobile GMV soared 157% to $49 billion. Mobile contributed 51% to its total GMV, up from 42% in the previous quarter. The Hangzhou-based company said its non-GAAP EBITDA increased 25% to $1.38 billion.
However, Alibaba’s non-GAAP EBITDA margin declined from 57% in Q4, 2014 to 49% in the latest quarter. Alibaba said its non-GAAP EBITDA margin was affected by the consolidation of acquired businesses such as AutoNavi and UCWeb. Its non-GAAP diluted earnings came in at 48 cents a share, exceeding the Wall Street estimates of 42 cents per share. The company ended the quarter with $19.73 billion in cash.
Daniel Zhang is the new CEO of Alibaba Group
Alibaba also announced that it has promoted Chief Operating Officer. Daniel Zhang has its new CEO effective May 10, 2015. Current CEO Jonathan Lu will work with Zhang to ensure a successful transition. However, Jonathan will remain on the board of Alibaba as Vice Chairman. Daniel Zhang has been with Alibaba since 2007, and has held several top management positions. He joined the company in 2007 as chief financial officer of Taobao Marketplace.
