Alibaba (BABA) Stock Price and News: Shares up again on Thursday as possible ANT Group spin-off

Update Thursday February 4: Alibaba shares are up again in Thursdays pre-market, following on from the gains on Wednesday. Reuters reports that ANT Group is to spin off its consumer credit operations to try to revive the suspended IPO.

Update: Alibaba shares are trading sharply higher on Wednesday, up over 5% at $267. BABA reported solid results on Tuesday and analysts rushed to upgrade forecasts. Citigroup raised its price target to $345, HSBC rasied its target to $330, Macquarie raised its target to $395 and Mizuho raised its price target for BABA to $285.

Alibaba (BABA) shares are trading sharply higher on Wednesday in pre-market trading as Reuters reports that ANT Group reaches deal with China regulators on restructuring.

BABA stock: Investor concerns abated

Worries over ANT Group had been one of the biggest factors holding back BABA stock as the ANT Group IPO was cancelled at the last minute in December 2020. Jack Ma had criticised Chinese regulators and by implication the government in a speech he gave in October. BABA shares collapsed falling more than 30% in the immediate aftermath. Jack Ma disappeared from public view until giving a low key speech at a teacher's meeting in January.

Solid results

BABA announced solid results on Tuesday beating analysts expectations on EPS and increasing revenue by over 46% year on year. BABA did not issue guidance for future earnings.

Reuters reported that Alibaba is to raise $5 billion in a dollar-denominated bond offering this week. The funds are for general purposes.

Upgrades after results

Raymond James issued a timely upgrade to BABA shares on Wednesday, maintaining the shares as a strong buy and increasing the price target to $350.

Alibaba shares are trading at $264.13 at the time of writing, up nearly 4%.

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Alibaba (BABA) Technical analysis

BABA shares have broken above resistance at $253.56 which now acts as the first support. BABA has also broken the recent downtrend series of lower highs.

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