Alibaba beats expectations with 32% jump in revenue

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd reported a stronger-than-expected 32 percent rise in second-quarter revenue on Tuesday, even as the value of goods transacted on its platforms grew at a slower pace.

Revenue from mobile platforms, an increasingly important area for the company, nearly tripled to $1.66 billion, with mobile gross merchandise volume (GMV) accounting for 62 percent of total GMV transacted on Alibaba's China retail marketplaces.

"Mobile is the trend and Alibaba is capturing that trend," said Tian Hou, an analyst at T.H. Capital Research.

Alibaba's New York-listed shares were up 10 percent in premarket trading. Shares of Yahoo Inc, which owns 15 percent of Alibaba, were up 7 percent.
Gross merchandise volume, the total value of goods transacted on Alibaba's retail marketplaces in China, rose 28 percent to $112 billion, but this was the slowest growth in more than three years.

The lower GMV growth was not unexpected. In early September, Jane Penner, Alibaba's head of investor relations, said the total value of transactions during the quarter would be smaller than originally expected due to lower order values.

Revenue rose to $3.49 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, beating the average analyst estimate of $3.44 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The jump in revenue added weight to Alibaba founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma's recent comments that concerns about slowing consumption in China were overdone.

BRANCHING OUT

The earnings report comes about two weeks before Alibaba's "Singles Day" shopping festival on Nov. 11, which netted GMV of more than $9 billion last year.
The company reported net income attributable to shareholders of $3.58 billion, or $1.40 per share. Excluding items, Alibaba earned 57 cents per share, beating the average estimate of 54 cents.

Alibaba, facing increasing competition from rival JD.com Inc , has been branching out from its core online shopping platforms in a bid to stem a slowdown in revenue growth.

During the quarter, the company invested $4.6 billion in Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd in a bid to bolster its ability to compete in logistics and electronics - two areas of strength for JD.com.

It has also poured more money into ventures outside China, for example by investing in One97 Communications, the parent of Indian online retailer Paytm, and taking part in a funding round for Indian e-commerce company Snapdeal.com.

Alibaba shares closed at $76.35 on Monday, down about 36 percent from their record high of $120 in November 2014. Yahoo closed at $33.40.