Alibaba celebrates five years in the stock market without being ruffled by the commercial war

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba starred five years ago the biggest IPO in history and today is worth more than double, an increase that has barely been disheveled by the US tariff war. and China or the dreaded economic slowdown in their country.

Alibaba conquered the top of the world's most successful stock market releases in September 2014, when it raised a total of $ 25 billion on the New York Stock Exchange by placing its securities at a price of $ 93.89, above all forecasts , and reaching a capitalization of 231,000 million dollars.

Contacted by Efe to review its anniversary and challenges, the corporation sent a note that says it has been "transformed" into "an entire digital economy, with businesses and affiliates covering everything from online shopping, payments and logistics to entertainment, local services and traditional commerce. "

With a workforce of 100,000 employees, its market value today stands at about 461,000 million dollars, double compared to its debut, profiling it as a giant halfway to the American colossi Microsoft (1.05 billion), Apple ( 988.6 billion), Amazon (909.8 billion) and Alphabet (801.8 billion).

Its price has skyrocketed 30.59% so far this year, and it is that Alibaba "has captured the attention of US investors, who observe how it performs with the rise of the Chinese consumer class," he told Efe the analyst Jesse Cohen, of Investing.com.

In the last fiscal year – determined on March 31 – its profit improved by 37% thanks to the revenue from the retail sale in the Chinese market, which represents the bulk of its turnover, although the firm says it is "changing the way to buy not only in China but worldwide, as it globalizes. "

Between April and June, the first quarter of the new fiscal year, Alibaba also increased year-on-year earnings and exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who were looking for signs of wear and tear due to the tariff war between Washington and Beijing.

"Similarly to Amazon in the US, Alibaba has diversified its main e-commerce business to other revenue streams, such as cloud service and food delivery, making it a good bet for the future despite the tensions of the US-China trade war, "Cohen added.

The director of the investment firm Wedbush Securities, Daniel Ives, told CNBC that Chinese e-commerce firms are "under pressure" due to concerns over growth in the region and the slowdown in their economy, but said " barking is worse than the bite right now. "

For his part, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang recently acknowledged that "geopolitical uncertainties have put additional pressure on global growth," but he agreed that "poses both a challenge and an opportunity for the Chinese economy."

In that sense, Zhang considered that "consumption and the services sector will become the new growth engine," and said the company is "well positioned" to take advantage of that trend.

Many American analysts share that optimism for the future, such as Thomas Chong, of the Jefferies firm, who said in a note that "Alibaba has multiple growth drivers for the next few years" and recommends betting on it.

Alibaba's "golden egg hen" is in its "main market", China, where consumption is improving and the firm shows "solid execution" and "ability to digitize the retail sector," Chong said.

"Its ecosystem of synergies allows it to accelerate easily in medium-sized cities and local services. It has a clear market leadership in cloud technology, which is the backbone of digitalization in different sectors," concluded this analyst.

Alibaba's anniversary comes when businessman Jack Ma, who founded it twenty years ago and today is the richest man in China, leaves his executive presidency after previously leaving the post of CEO in 2013.

Although there has recently been "strong pressure to sell" shares in reaction to the withdrawal of Ma, which will remain on the board of directors, the value of Alibaba has recovered because it is "in growth mode, despite the slowdown in its business electronic commerce, "said analyst Cohen.

In his farewell address, collected by the specialized Seeking Alpha, Ma stressed that China has a population and a unified business infrastructure that contribute to a "good opportunity" for growth for Alibaba.

"The greatest opportunity is in China's domestic demand. As long as demand develops well, not only the Chinese economy, but the global economy can rise. But the generation of growth of this demand does not only lie with the Government's measures, rather in a market economy, "he said.