Alibaba (BABA) Dips More Than Broader Market: What You Should Know

In the latest close session, Alibaba (BABA) was down 1.43% at $118.64. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.25%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.45%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.3%.

Heading into today, shares of the online retailer had gained 12.78% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 2.27% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.71%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Alibaba in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $2.13, reflecting a 5.75% decrease from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $34.26 billion, up 2.37% from the year-ago period.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.58 per share and a revenue of $141.93 billion, representing changes of -4.77% and +2.75%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Alibaba. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 11.85% lower within the past month. At present, Alibaba boasts a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

With respect to valuation, Alibaba is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.04. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 18.58 of its industry.

We can additionally observe that BABA currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.62. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Internet - Commerce industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.5 as of yesterday's close.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 170, this industry ranks in the bottom 32% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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