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Alibaba (BABA) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $197.54, moving +0.78% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.42%.

Coming into today, shares of the online retailer had lost 13.57% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector lost 1.87%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.64%.

BABA will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be August 3, 2021. In that report, analysts expect BABA to post earnings of $2.18 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 3.81%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $32.67 billion, up 50.14% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.40 per share and revenue of $142.71 billion. These totals would mark changes of -5.43% and +33.27%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for BABA. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.31% higher within the past month. BABA is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, BABA currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.85. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 46.54, so we one might conclude that BABA is trading at a discount comparatively.

Meanwhile, BABA's PEG ratio is currently 1.22. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Internet - Commerce stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.02 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 159, putting it in the bottom 38% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow BABA in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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