Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) Q4: Stock Jumps After Earnings Beat

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Alibaba released its latest earnings report before opening bell this morning, posting adjusted earnings of 47 cents per share on $3.75 billion in revenue, representing a 39% year over year increase. Analysts had been expecting adjusted earnings of 55 cents per share on $3.57 billion in revenue for the Chinese online retailer’s fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.

Alibaba posts across-the-board beat

Alibaba’s reported earnings increased 88% to 33 cents per share. Adjusted EBITDA climbed 34% year over year to $1.78 billion, while the adjusted EBITDA margin declined to 48% from 49% in the year-ago quarter. Gross merchandise volume transacted in China retail climbed 24% to $115 billion, against the consensus of $113.2 billion. Mobile gross merchandise volume accounted for 73% of total volume. Gross merchandise volume on the Taobao marketplace increased 18% to $70 billion, which also beat the consensus of $67.3 billion.

The company had 423 million annual active buyers in the 12 months ending on March 31, which compares to the 350 million active buyers it had in the 12 months ending on March 31, 2015. Alibaba had 410 million mobile monthly active users for its China retail marketplaces business in March, compared to 393 million in December. The China commerce wholesale business saw revenue rise 28% to $168 million, while the international commerce retail business saw revenue rise 35% to $92 million. The International commerce wholesale business recorded a 16% increase in revenue, bringing it to $216 million.

The company continued to expand its cloud computing and Internet infrastructure business during the fourth fiscal quarter as the segment’s revenue skyrocketed 175% year over year to $165 million. In the previous quarter, growth was recorded at 126%. Other revenue increased 14% year over year to $266 million.

Alibaba to continue growing

“Alibaba Group finished the fiscal year on a very strong note. In March we surpassed RMB3 trillion in annual GMV and our revenue for the year was over RMB100 billion,” said CEO Daniel Zhang in a statement. “We achieved strong growth in mobile users, active buyers and transactions. Our focus on long-term strategic priorities – globalization, rural expansion, building a world-class cloud computing business and creating a comprehensive media and entertainment platform – has laid a strong foundation for future growth.”

The Chinese online retailer also repurchased and canceled 5.8 million shares for a total of $365 million during the fourth quarter.

Shares of Alibaba rose 3.29% to $78.27 in premarket trading this morning.

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