What happened
Shares of China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (BABA -1.43%) gained 10.8% in August, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company released a rock-solid earnings report in the middle of the month, followed by a plethora of flattering analyst price-target hikes.
So what
In the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, Alibaba's sales rose 53% year over year to land at $7.4 billion. Free cash flows jumped 70% higher, stopping at $3.3 billion. Bottom-line earnings nearly doubled to $2.1 billion, or $1.17 per American depositary share. Analysts had been expecting earnings of roughly $0.92 per ADS on revenue near $7.2 billion.
Alibaba shares rose more than 9% over the following week as investors and analysts absorbed the stellar report.
Image source: Alibaba.
Now what
As crazy as it might sound, Alibaba is just getting started. You don't see a lot of companies with $450 billion market caps acting like hungry start-ups, but that's exactly what is going on here. Next up, founder and Chairman Jack Ma is setting his sights on expansion outside the core Chinese market on the way to a trillion-dollar annual economy powered by Alibaba's services and technologies.
I own Alibaba shares today, and that I plan to hold on to that position for the long haul. We're watching a legend in the making here, and the terrific first-quarter report only underscored the power of Alibaba's flexible business model.
