markets

Luke Kawa2/20/25

Alibaba booms after e-commerce and AI-enhanced cloud business results impress

Alibaba delivered an across-the-board beat on its quarterly report for the final three months of 2024 as the Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant seemingly goes from strength to strength.

The headline figures exceeded expectations, with adjusted earnings per share of 21.39 yuan handedly besting the consensus estimate of 19.12 on revenues of 280.15 billion yuan (forecast: 277.4 billion).

Shares jumped double digits in early trading, firmly pulling away from the $120 level that had marked a short-term peak for the stock over the past three years.

The highlights included:

A core business that did better than anticipated, with domestic e-commerce sales of 136.1 billion yuan that blew away the consensus estimate of 131.7 billion.
A higher-margin cloud business with better-than-projected and accelerating revenue growth. Drilling down, AI-related sales in particular delivered triple-digit growth, year on year.

“Looking ahead, revenue growth at Cloud Intelligence Group driven by AI will continue to accelerate,” Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu said. “We will continue to execute against our strategic priorities in e-commerce and cloud computing, including further investment to drive long-term growth.”

More Markets

See all Markets

Credit markets have a “debt” problem, not a “risk” problem

We’re getting a lot of borrowing, and that borrowing is risk-reducing (for now!)

New York City Architecture And Monuments

Meet the newly public, Bezos-backed company that’s recreating the sun and stars

General Fusion CEO Greg Twinney spoke with Sherwood News from the Nasdaq during the stock’s first day of trading.

Web Summit Vancouver 2026 - Day Three

markets

J. Edward Moreno7/7/26

SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

US job growth falls far short of estimates in June; unemployment rate unexpectedly dips to 4.2%

Job growth was 57,000. Analysts foresaw job growth of 113,000; prediction markets were more optimistic, looking for job growth above 125,000 but below 150,000.

Floridians Seek Employment Opportunities At Job Fair In Sunrise

Meta surges on report it’s starting a cloud business to sell excess AI compute

The story of the hyperscalers in 2026 has largely been “the beatings will continue until the cash flow outlook improves;” this could help change the story for Meta. Or not.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visits U.S. Capitol for Senate meetings

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC and Chartr Limited produce fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and are fully owned subsidiaries of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Money, LLC, Robinhood U.K. Ltd, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, Robinhood Gold, LLC, Robinhood Asset Management, LLC, Robinhood Credit, Inc., Robinhood Ventures DE, LLC and, where applicable, its managed investment vehicles.

©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC