11:50 AM EDT, 05/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We keep our 12-month target at USD87, on a P/E of 9.6x our FY 25 (Mar.) view, below peers/historical. We reduce our FY 25 earnings per ADS view to CNY59.70 from CNY68.15 and FY 26 to CNY66.63 from CNY70.81. BABA posted Mar-Q earnings per ADS of CNY10.14 vs. CNY10.71, missing the CNY10.24 consensus. Sales rose 6.6%, slightly above expectations on international E-commerce Expansion (+45%), Logistics (+30%), and Local Services (+19%). We remain disappointed by anemic growth from Taobao/Tmall (+4%) and Cloud (+3%), 54% of sales combined. That said, BABA cited that cloud could return to double-digit growth in 2H of FY 25, excluding internal customers. We like the greater cash return to investors and the robust balance sheet (net cash of $61.8B), but expect margins to remain pressured due to more elevated investments to try to reinvigorate growth into E-commerce/Cloud. Still, we remain hesitant about prospects given pricing/competitive pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, and limited access to advanced chips.