Alibaba To Double Chinese Users Within The Decade

Alibaba was started with a buy rating and a $118 price target at Jefferies on Monday, with the brokerage predicting that more than half of China will be using its platforms to make online purchases within the decade. The e-commerce giant is already the largest in China, holding roughly 80% of the country's gross merchandise volume market share. However, it currently sells to less than 25% of the population. Jefferies predicts that "well over half" of the Chinese population will be shopping on Alibaba's platforms within 10 years, led by Tmall.com. Alibaba's shares edged 1.7% higher to $97.40 in premarket trade. They are up nearly 41% since pricing at $68 in September.