Alibaba Analysts Remain Bullish Despite Reduced Stock Targets

Alibaba Group's price target was reduced at a number of brokerages on Thursday, the day after the company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue. Its stock valuation range was reduced to $95 to $97 from a range of $108 to $111 at Wells Fargo. Its 12-month target was lowered to $95 from $110 at Cantor Fitzgerald and to $94 from $104 at Pacific Crest. However, analysts remained overwhelmingly bullish on the company long term, with Wells Fargo reiterating an outperform rating and pointing to Alibaba's improving mobile monetization rates and 31% year-over-year improvement in active buyers. Cantor reiterated a buy rating and said it maintains a positive view on the company on a long-term basis based on its strong position within China's fast-growing e-commerce industry. Pacific Crest reiterated an outperform rating and said it views Alibaba's omni-channel, cloud computing and mobile take-rate progress as positives for the company. Shares of Alibaba were up 0.7% to $73.90 in premarket trade. They fell more than 5% on Wednesday after reporting the results.