Many stateside investors have lost sight of China's leading online companies in recent years, but continuing to overlook them could be a mistake. E-commerce giant (NYSE: BABA) reports quarterly results later this week, and there are reasons to be upbeat.

Political and trade war tensions aside, the soil is fertile for a potentially well-received update. Expectations aren't high, but Alibaba has breezed through its recent profit targets. And given the stock's surprisingly low valuation multiples, now could be a good time to reconsider the merits of investing in Alibaba.

Shares of Alibaba are roughly the same price that they were a year ago. They are also trading marginally lower year to date, despite a surge in Chinese growth stocks earlier this year and an Alibaba-specific pop that came in late March after management unveiled a plan to restructure the conglomerate into six distinct business units. When Alibaba's leadership team steps up to discuss its fiscal fourth-quarter results before the U.S. markets open on Thursday morning, it will likely spend as much time discussing how the split will play out as it does the quarter's numbers. 

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Source Fool.com