The Alibaba office building in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, on Aug. 28, 2024.
CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Alibaba posted a better-than-expected bottom line in the June quarter fueled by accelerated sales at its cloud computing unit and a continued revival of its e-commerce business.
Still, the Chinese giant’s revenues came in under analyst forecasts.
Alibaba’s stock was up around 4% in premarket trade in the U.S. after initially dipping.
Here’s how Alibaba did in its fiscal first quarter ended June, compared with LSEG estimates:
Revenue: 247.65 billion Chinese yuan ($34.6 billion), versus 252.9 billion yuan expected.
Net income: 43.11 billion yuan, compared with 28.5 billion yuan expected.
Revenue rose 2% year-on-year, while the company’s net income was up 78%. Alibaba attributed the increase in profit to gains in some of its equity investments and the disposal of Turkish e-commerce firm Trendyol. This was offset by a decrease in income from operations.
However, excluding investment gains, Alibaba’s net income would have decreased 18% year-on-year as it continues to invest in the cut-throat instant commerce space in China.
Alibaba has a delicate balancing act between investing areas such as artificial intelligence and new e-commerce models, while showing that it can continue to grow in China’s competitive market. So far, investors have rewarded Alibaba with a 40% rally in its U.S.-listed stock this year.
That’s partly thanks a continued growth acceleration at its key cloud computing division as well as improvements at both its China and international e-commerce businesses.
Cloud accelerates
Cloud computing was one of the bright spots.
Alibaba said revenue at the division totaled 33.4 billion yuan, up 26% year-on-year. That was faster than the 18% growth rate seen in the previous quarter. Alibaba’s cloud unit is seen as key to the company monetizing artificial intelligence, much like Microsoft or Google.
“Driven by robust AI demand, Cloud Intelligence Group experienced accelerated revenue growth, and AI-related product revenue is now a significant portion of revenue from external customers,” Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said in a statement.
Investors are focused on Alibaba’s investments in artificial intelligence, where it has become a major global player. The company has aggressively launched various AI models and is selling services through its cloud computing division.
While Alibaba has focused open source AI — meaning its models can be used for free and built on by developers — it also sells AI services through its cloud unit.
Alibaba said AI-related product revenue “maintained triple-digit year-over-year growth for the eighth consecutive quarter.”
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA), a measure of profitability, jumped 26% year-on-year in the cloud unit.
New York-listed Alibaba shares have risen more than 40% this year as revenue growth at its core China e-commerce business has improved and its cloud computing division has accelerated.
Alibaba’s core e-commerce business, which accounts for more than 50% of revenue, had mixed results.
Overall, revenue rose 10% year-on-year to 19.6 billion yuan. Customer management revenue, which Alibaba makes off of selling marketing and other services to merchants on its platform, jumped 10%. CMR accounts for the bulk of e-commerce revenue.
However, adjusted earnings in the division fell 21% in the quarter on an annual basis. That’s because Alibaba has been investing heavily in so-called quick or instant commerce. This is a feature introduced on Taobao, one of Alibaba’s main Chinese e-commerce apps, this year that provides deliveries of certain products in China within an hour
Competition is intense in China, with rivals including food delivery giant Meituan and JD.com, all involved. And the rivalry is already taking its toll on some of these firms, with Meituan this week posting an 89% plunge in second-quarter adjusted net profit.
Alibaba’s own quick commerce division brought in revenue of more than 14.8 billion yuan, or $2 billion, rising 12% year-on-year.
Still, investors appear okay with Alibaba’s instant commerce investments, because its cloud computing business continues to grow, while its international online shopping unit — which includes AliExpress — saw a 19% jump in revenue in the quarter as losses narrowed.
Affirm CEO Max Levchin said Friday that while the buy now, pay later firm isn’t seeing credit stress among federally employed borrowers due to the government shutdown, there are signs of a change in shopping habits.
“We are seeing a very subtle loss of interest in shopping just for that group, and a couple of basis points,” Levchin told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
At least 670,000 federal employees have been furloughed in the shutdown, and about 730,000 are working without pay, the Bipartisan Policy Center said this week.
Levchin said he’s closely watching employment data for signs of major disruptions, but the company is “capable” of adjusting credit standards when needed.
“Right now, things are just fine,” he said. “We’re not seeing any major disturbances at all.”
The federal funding lapse, which began Oct. 1, is the longest in U.S. history and has halted work across agencies with an impact beyond those who are government employees. The SNAP food benefit program, which serves 42 million Americans, has also been cut off.
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The comments from Levchin followed a fiscal first-quarter earnings report that blew past Wall Street’s estimates. Affirm posted earnings of 23 cents per share on $933 million in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG expected earnings of 11 cents per share on $883 million in sales.
Revenues climbed 34% from a year ago, while gross merchandise volumes jumped 42% to $10.8 billion from $7.6 billion a year ago. That surpassed Wall Street’s $10.38 billion estimate.
The fintech company, which went public in 2021, also lifted its full-year outlook, saying it now expects gross merchandise volume to hit $47.5 billion, versus prior guidance of $46 billion.
Affirm also said it renewed its partnership with Amazon through 2031. The company has also inked deals with the likes of Shopify and Apple in a competitive e-commerce landscape.
Levchin said categories such as ticketing and travel have seen an uptick in interest, and consumer shopping remains strong. Active consumers grew to 24.1 million from 19.5 million a year ago.
“We’re every single day out there preaching the gospel of buy now, pay later being the better way to buy, and consumers are obviously responding,” he said.
Block shares fell 10% Friday after weak third-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations and showed slowing profit growth for the company’s Square service.
Here is how the company did compared with LSEG estimates:
Earnings per share: 54 cents adjusted vs. 67 cents expected
Revenue: $6.11 billion vs. $6.31 billion expected
Revenue for the quarter was up 2% over last year. The Jack Dorsey-founded firm’s shares have fallen 24% year to date.
Square’s gross payment volume was up 12% year over year, but gross profit growth for the point-of-sale service was only up 9% over a year ago, slowing from last quarter’s 11%.
The company attributed the slower growth to a processing partner change and lower-margin hardware sales.
“Our product and go-to-market strategies are working as we continued to gain profitable market share in our target verticals like food and beverage, with larger sellers, and outside the U.S.,” Chief Financial Officer Amrita Ahuja said on the earnings call.
Cash App’s gross profit growth fared much better at $1.62 billion, increasing 24% over a year ago with 58 million monthly transacting active users. The strength was driven by the service’s Cash App Borrow, Cash App Card, and Buy Now Pay Later.
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Morgan Stanley analysts wrote that they were “encouraged by the pace of credit expansion at Cash App” and are focused on “whether credit expansion will ultimately produce better inflows” per active customer and increase direct deposit accounts.
Ahuja said gross profit was a bright spot for Block, as the company reported $2.66 billion in gross profit growth, up 18% over the prior year. FactSet expected $2.60 billion in gross profit for the quarter.
The company raised its full-year guidance to expect a $10.2 billion gross profit for 2025, increasing from last quarter’s projection of $10.2 billion.
Block reported net income of $461.54 million, or 74 cents per share, which was up significantly over a year ago when the company reported net income of $283.75 million, or 45 cents per share.
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Block year-to-date stock chart.
CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.
Archer Aviation‘s stock plummeted 12% after a share sale overshadowed a narrower-than-expected third-quarter loss.
The company posted a net loss $129.9 million, narrower than the FactSet estimate of a $178.6 million loss.
However, Archer disclosed a $650 million stock offering for 81.25 million shares to support its $126 million acquisition of Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles as a hub for air taxi operations there. Archer was chosen as the official air taxi provider for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The move would dilute the value of the stock for existing shareholders. The weighted average for Archer shares outstanding has grown to about 660.9 million from 397.5 million a year ago.
Interest in electric aircraft makers has picked up in recent months as major players have edged closer to certification. Earlier this week, Beta Technologies went public on the NYSE.
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Archer, like its competitors, is taking major steps toward achieving Federal Aviation Administration certification, a key approval needed to fly commercially.
For the current quarter, Archer said it expects a loss between $110 million and $140 million for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a loss of $125 million at the midpoint. Analysts expected a loss of $119.9 million, according to FactSet.
Earlier this week, Joby Aviation reported a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss. Shares have slumped 20% over the last week, while Archer has lost nearly a third of its value. Both companies have more than doubled in value over the last year.
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Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation year-to-date stock chart.