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

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Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) closed at $125.56 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.54% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.09%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.16%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.52%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the online retailer had lost 1.84% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 2.81% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.02% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Alibaba as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 24, 2022. In that report, analysts expect Alibaba to post earnings of $2.41 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 28.7%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $37.85 billion, up 11.7% from the year-ago period.

BABA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.22 per share and revenue of $132.85 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -17.3% and +24.06%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Alibaba. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.86% lower. Alibaba currently has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Alibaba has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.36 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 28.7, so we one might conclude that Alibaba is trading at a discount comparatively.

Investors should also note that BABA has a PEG ratio of 1.63 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. BABA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.63 as of yesterday's close.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 219, putting it in the bottom 14% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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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