On the evening of December 22, Alibaba released its interim report for the fiscal year 2024 (covering the six months ending September 2023, hereinafter referred to as the "Financial Report"). During the reporting period, the company achieved a revenue of 458.946 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11%. After adjustment, EBITA increased by 25% year-on-year to 88.216 billion yuan, and operating profit increased by 52% year-on-year to 76.074 billion yuan.
Among them, Taotian Group's revenue increased by 8% year-on-year; Alibaba International Retail saw a strong year-on-year growth in overall orders, driving a 66% increase in overall revenue for international retail. Driven by the dual growth of cross-border logistics fulfillment revenue and domestic consumer logistics service revenue, Cainiao Group's revenue increased by 29% during the reporting period, with an adjusted EBITA of 1.783 billion yuan.
During the period, Alibaba Cloud's adjusted EBITA increased by 26% year-on-year. On December 22nd, the results of the first official "compliance evaluation of large model standards" in China were announced. Alibaba Cloud Tongyi Qianwen has become one of the first four domestically produced large models to pass the evaluation, meeting the relevant national standards in terms of universality, intelligence, and other dimensions.
During the same period, Alibaba's local lifestyle group's revenue increased by 22%, while the revenue of Da Wen Yu Group increased by 21%.
According to the financial report, as of the end of September, Alibaba's net cash flow from operating activities was 94.537 billion yuan, and its free cash flow was 84.309 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46%.
The US financial media "Barron Weekly" has released a list of the top ten stock picks for 2024, including Alibaba, and described it as "one of the lowest cost technology stocks in the world.".
UBS and Goldman Sachs both stated that the current valuation of the Chinese stock market is already at a very attractive level, and valuation recovery is one of the important driving forces for the Chinese stock market in 2024. Both top companies have rated Alibaba as one of the preferred stocks in the 2024 Chinese internet/e-commerce sector.
Many investors use tools such as options to "bottom out" Alibaba. Data shows that the trading volume of Alibaba's options has skyrocketed in the short term, with over 610000 transactions per day as of December 19th, and the proportion of call options is as high as 91.8%, reflecting the general market view that Alibaba's value is undervalued.
Recently, Alibaba announced its first annual dividend of approximately $2.5 billion, further enhancing shareholder returns.