--- title: "Morgan Stanley: Alibaba Cloud's accelerated business growth becomes a key catalyst for stock price, rating \"Overweight\"" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/282123541.md" description: "Morgan Stanley released a report stating that Alibaba's cloud business growth will continue, with an expected growth rate of over 40% in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 and a year-on-year increase of 7% in customer management revenue. The acceleration of the cloud business is seen as a catalyst for the stock price, with Alibaba being listed as a preferred stock. Recent price increases in cloud services will drive short-term growth, and model-as-a-service is expected to be the main driver of long-term growth, contributing over 50% of cloud revenue. Although the EBITA forecasts for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 have been lowered for other business losses, the target price remains at $180, with a rating of \"Overweight.\"" datetime: "2026-04-09T01:53:59.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/282123541.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/282123541.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/282123541.md) --- # Morgan Stanley: Alibaba Cloud's accelerated business growth becomes a key catalyst for stock price, rating "Overweight" Morgan Stanley published a research report, expecting Alibaba (09988.HK) to maintain growth momentum in its cloud business, with a growth rate in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 expected to exceed 40%, higher than the 36% in the third quarter. At the same time, customer management revenue (CMR) is expected to grow 7% year-on-year on a comparable basis, significantly accelerating from 1% in the third quarter. The firm believes that the acceleration of the cloud business is a key catalyst for the stock price and considers Alibaba as a preferred stock. The report points out that Alibaba's recent price increase in cloud services will drive short-term growth, while model as a service (MaaS) will become a major long-term growth driver, expected to contribute over 50% of cloud revenue in the future. Additionally, the company's management aims to halve the losses of local life services (Ele.me) in fiscal year 2027 compared to fiscal year 2026, and further halve them in fiscal year 2028, with profitability expected in fiscal year 2029, which is a positive signal for the market. Based on expectations of expanded losses in "other businesses," Morgan Stanley has lowered its adjusted EBITA forecasts for Alibaba for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 by 7% and 12%, respectively, but maintains a target price of $180 for Alibaba (BABA.US) based on a discounted cash flow model, corresponding to an approximate 23 times price-to-earnings ratio for fiscal year 2028, with a rating of "Overweight." ### Related Stocks - [BABA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABA.US.md) - [09988.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/09988.HK.md) - [EBIZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/EBIZ.US.md) - [513040.CN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/513040.CN.md) - [CLOU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CLOU.US.md) - [YINN.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/YINN.US.md) - [513770.CN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/513770.CN.md) - [159998.CN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/159998.CN.md) - [KBAB.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/KBAB.US.md) - [KWEB.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/KWEB.US.md) - [BABX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABX.US.md) - [BABO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABO.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [FACTBOX-From Saudi Aramco to Alibaba: World's biggest IPOs](https://longbridge.com/en/news/288308317.md) - [Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN Shares Purchased by Cheviot Value Management LLC](https://longbridge.com/en/news/288231201.md) - [Manulife Deepens AI Push Through Alibaba Cloud Partnership](https://longbridge.com/en/news/288402944.md) - [09:10 ETAlibaba's Amap Unveils ABot-Earth0.5 3D Native World Model for City-Scale Modeling](https://longbridge.com/en/news/289061340.md) - [Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI Has $10.30 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN](https://longbridge.com/en/news/288228720.md)