--- title: "Bank of America Securities: Reiterates \"Buy\" rating on Alibaba-W with a target price of HKD 168" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/292297292.md" description: "Bank of America Securities reiterated its \"Buy\" rating on Alibaba, maintaining target prices of HKD 168 for Hong Kong stocks and USD 172 for U.S. stocks. It expects Alibaba's revenue in the first fiscal quarter to grow by 8.8% year-on-year, with cloud business driven by AI demand growing by 45%. Although overall EBITA is expected to decline by 33% year-on-year, losses in new retail and other businesses have significantly narrowed. The firm believes that fiscal year 2027 will be a key turning point for profitability, raising its earnings forecast for fiscal years 2027 to 2028 by up to 2%" datetime: "2026-07-10T09:11:03.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/292297292.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/292297292.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/292297292.md) --- # Bank of America Securities: Reiterates "Buy" rating on Alibaba-W with a target price of HKD 168 According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Bank of America Securities has released a research report reiterating its "Buy" rating for Alibaba (09988, BABA.US), with target prices for Hong Kong and U.S. stocks remaining at HKD 168 and USD 172, respectively. The report predicts that Alibaba's revenue for the first fiscal quarter ending June this year will grow by 8.8% year-on-year, in line with market expectations. Strong demand for AI is expected to drive cloud business revenue growth of 45% year-on-year, compared to a growth rate of 38% in the previous quarter. The cloud business profit margin is expected to improve from 9% to 11%, in line with management guidance. The bank expects Alibaba's CMR to decline by 7.7% year-on-year this quarter, reflecting a softer industry environment in the second quarter of this year. Overall EBITA is forecasted to reach approximately RMB 26.2 billion, a year-on-year decline of 33%. Among these, the EBITA for Chinese e-commerce (excluding new retail) is expected to decline by 3.3% year-on-year, mainly due to improvements in operational efficiency and ongoing optimization of marketing expenses. New retail losses are expected to narrow to approximately RMB 10 billion, compared to a loss of approximately RMB 18 billion in the previous quarter; losses from other businesses are expected to narrow from RMB 21 billion to approximately RMB 17 billion. Bank of America Securities believes that fiscal year 2027 will mark a key turning point for Alibaba's profitability, with core e-commerce profits returning to growth as new retail losses significantly narrow, providing sustainable cash flow to support cloud development and AI investments. It predicts that overall adjusted EBITA will increase from approximately RMB 76 billion in fiscal year 2026 to approximately RMB 103 billion in fiscal year 2027, maintaining revenue forecasts for fiscal years 2027 to 2028 largely unchanged, with profit forecasts for fiscal years 2027 to 2028 raised by up to 2% ### Related Stocks - [09988.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/09988.HK.md) - [BABA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABA.US.md) - [BABU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABU.US.md) - [BABX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABX.US.md) - [KBAB.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/KBAB.US.md) - [BABO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABO.US.md) - [BABW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABW.US.md) - [BBYY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BBYY.US.md) - [89988.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/89988.HK.md) - [HBBD.SG](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HBBD.SG.md) ## Related News & Research - [Alibaba Qwen Update Sends Clear Signal on AI Chip Resilience](https://longbridge.com/en/news/295002435.md) - [Tencent ramps up overseas AI push with wider roll-out of flagship Hy3 model](https://longbridge.com/en/news/294926305.md) - [DeepSeek's new AI model is by far the cheapest of well-known models to run, research firm says](https://longbridge.com/en/news/294645417.md) - [Savers Value Village thrift store launches new AI tool to price items](https://longbridge.com/en/news/295137659.md) - [Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $608,000 Stock Holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Limited $BABA](https://longbridge.com/en/news/294602832.md)