Equity Snap: Alibaba Group (BABA US): June Q results largely in-line

Research evidence excerpt

20 August 2026

Equity Snap: Alibaba Group

(BABA US)

Equities

Internet Software & Services

June Q results largely in-line

China

◆ Cloud continued to accelerate to 45% yoy; the segmental

margin also beat expectation reaching 12%

Alibaba Group (BABA US, USD128.90, Buy, TP USD170.00; 89988 HK,

CNY106.90, Buy, TP CNY142.00; 9988 HK, HKD124.20, Buy, TP HKD166.00)

(Priced as of 19 Aug 2026)

Revenue rose 9% y-o-y to RMB269.0bn, broadly in line with HSBCe and consensus.

CMR: Reported CMR was in line with HSBCe, down 7% y-o-y or +1% like for

like.

Cloud: AI Cloud and Compute Services (Cloud Intelligence Group + T-Head)

revenue grew 45% y-o-y to RMB48bn, with both total and external revenues up

45%. AI-related product revenue was RMB12.4bn (vs. RMB9.0bn in March Q),

and posted triple-digit growth for the 12th straight quarter. Capex was RMB68bn,

+75% y-o-y.

Charlene Liu*

Head of Internet and Gaming Research, Asia Pacific

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

Limited, Singapore Branch

Charlotte Wei*

Analyst, Internet Research

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

Lauren Cai*

Associate

Guangzhou

* Employed by a non-US affiliate of HSBC Securities (USA) Inc, and is

not registered/ qualified pursuant to FINRA regulations

International e-commerce: Revenue was RMB27.8bn, down 1% y-o-y.

Adjusted EBITA declined 30% y-o-y to RMB27.3bn, 3-7% ahead of HSBCe and

consensus, implying an adjusted EBITA margin of 10.2%. The beat was due to better

than expected cloud margin. As for the c6ppt decline, it was primarily due to

investment in technology (including AI), partly offset by improved operating results in

Cloud and enhanced operating efficiencies across various businesses. Non-GAAP

net income attributable to ordinary shareholders fell 42% y-o-y to RMB20.6bn, with

7.7% margin (down c6ppt) – largely in line with HSBCe but 19% below consensus.

Shareholder return update: Alibaba repurchased 1.7m ADSs for USD162m during

the quarter, equivalent to c.0.1% its market cap.

AI update: Backed by T-Head’s in-house chip portfolio, Zhenwu chips have achieved

broad commercial adoption via Alibaba Cloud, with 650+ external customers across

…