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Alibaba Group reported first-quarter revenue that beat analysts’ estimates as consumer sentiment bounced back from a year earlier when many regions in the country were in strict Covid lockdowns.
Alibaba posted revenue of 234.16 billion yuan ($32.29 billion) for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, compared with analysts’ estimates of 224.92 billion yuan and rising 14% from a year earlier, the biggest annual increase since the September 2021 quarter.
Net profit reached 34.3 billion yuan, compared to market expected 28.65 billion yuan and rising from 22.7 billion yuan a year earlier.
Adjusted net profit reached 44.9 billion yuan, surging 48% from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per ADS reached 17.37 yuan. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 22%, compared to 20% a year earlier and expected 20.4%.
Alibaba’s main business, Taobao and Tmall Group, saw revenue rise 12% from a year earlier to 114.95 billion yuan in the quarter. The company noted that the Taobao app for online shopping saw daily active users rise in June by 6.5% from a year ago — and rose further to more than 7% in July.
The company’s push into overseas markets also bore results, with revenue from international commerce retail surging by 60% year on year to 17.14 billion yuan in the June quarter.
That international demand also helped drive revenue for Alibaba’s Cainiao logistics business up by 34% to 23.16 billion yuan during the same period.
Alibaba’s cloud business reported revenue growth of 4% to 25.12 billion yuan. Those results were dragged down by a drop in revenue from top customers as well as reduced need for remote work, streaming and education services in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the company said.
However, Alibaba said it saw “strong demand” in its cloud business for training artificial intelligence models and related services.
“We believe the growth opportunity driven by AI services have just begun. We believe the technology revolution built by AI not a short term opportunity but the beginning of a new era,” management said in a conference call with analysts Thursday.