Alibaba shares surge off 'strong' mobile growth
Alibaba topped Wall Street forecasts for the second quarter Tuesday, off "strong growth" from mobile revenue generated through its retail outlets in China.
For the second quarter, Alibaba reported earnings per share of 57 cents off revenue of $3.49 billion, up 32%. Analysts projected earnings of 54 cents a share and $3.35 billion in revenue.
Shares of Alibaba surged 4% in afternoon trading. Shares of media company Yahoo, which owns a 15% stake in Alibaba, were up 2.67%.
Alibaba's impressive quarter was fueled by fast growth in mobile revenue created from its Chinese retail businesses. The company reported $1.66 billion in mobile revenue, nearly triple the same time last year. It represents nearly 61% of Alibaba's overall revenue from retail.
"We are winning in mobile and remain focused on our top strategic priorities, including internationalization, expanding our ecosystem from cities to villages, and building a world-class cloud computing business," said Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang in a statement.
Alibaba revenue stemming from its cloud computing business continues to surge, more than doubling compared to the same time last year. In July, Alibaba announced it will invest $1 billion in cloud computing, opening data centers in Europe, Japan and the Middle East.
Gross merchandise value — or total sales — through mobile devices reached $69 billion, up 121% year-over-year. Meanwhile, Alibaba says its monthly mobile active users increased 59% compared to a year ago, citing heavy promotion of the mobile app for marketplace Taobao.
The earnings report arrives as Alibaba prepares for the Nov. 11 shopping holiday in China, one of the company's biggest days of the year. Last year, Alibaba hit a record $9 billion in sales on Singles Day, easily topping the 2013 record of $5.8 billion.
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