Alibaba (BABA) Stock Moves -1.5%: What You Should Know

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Alibaba (BABA) closed the most recent trading day at $208.91, moving -1.5% from the previous trading session. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 1.59% loss on the day.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the online retailer had lost 0.09% over the past month. This has lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 0.09% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.53% in that time.

BABA will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.14, up 1.9% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $32.88 billion, up 51.08% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.29 per share and revenue of $142.96 billion. These totals would mark changes of -6.54% and +33.51%, respectively, from last year.

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

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.67% lower. BABA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

In terms of valuation, BABA is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 22.83. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 60.16, so we one might conclude that BABA is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that BABA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.33. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Internet - Commerce was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.86 at yesterday's closing price.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 227, which puts it in the bottom 11% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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