Alibaba Q1 Profit Seen Plunging 49% to $3.23B as AI Spending Bites
BABA sits 36% above its 52-week low of $91.99.
Summary
Alibaba reports fiscal Q1 results Thursday, and the Street expects net profit to fall nearly half to 21.80 billion yuan ($3.23 billion) from 43.12 billion yuan a year earlier, even as revenue rises 8% to 266.78 billion yuan. The profit drop reflects heavy AI investment and intense food-delivery competition, with the company committed to at least $53 billion in cloud/AI capex over three years. Jefferies sees cloud EBITDA margin improving to 11.5%, beating consensus, while Citi highlights an accelerating AI race that shifts value to platforms. The stock has been volatile: down 22% in April-June, then up 34% since end-June, still down 15% year-to-date. This preview follows a year of sharp profit declines and negative free cash flow, making Thursday's actual numbers and cloud margin trajectory the key swing factors.
At the time of this announcement, BABA was trading at $124.86 on NYSE in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $292.9B. The 52-week trading range was $91.99 to $192.67. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.