Alibaba Q4 Profit Surges - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) reported that its net income attributable to ordinary shareholders for the fourth-quarter ended March 31, 2019 was RMB 25.83 billion or $3.85 billion, an increase of 242% from RMB 7.56 billion in the same quarter of 2018. Earnings per share was RMB9.84 or $1.47, an increase of 242% from RMB2.88 last year.

Non-GAAP earnings per share was RMB8.57 or $1.28, an increase of 50% from RMB5.73 in the previous year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.96 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

But, income from operations was RMB 8.77 billion or $1.31 billion, a decrease of 5% year-over-year mainly due to $250 million settlement of a U.S. federal class action lawsuit. Excluding the impact, income from operations would have increased by 13%.

Revenue for the quarter was RMB 93.50 billion or $13.93 billion, an increase of 51% from last year's RMB 61.93 billion, driven by the robust revenue growth of China commerce retail business, the consolidation of Ele.me, as well as strong revenue growth of Alibaba Cloud. Analysts expected revenues of $13.32 billion for the quarter.

Annual active consumers on our China retail marketplaces reached 654 million, an increase of 18 million from the 12-month period ended December 31, 2018.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2020, the company expects revenue to be over RMB 500 billion.

In Wednesday pre-market trade, BABA is trading at $182.00, up $6.93 or 3.96 percent.